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SAMUEL BARBE 





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COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



Boston Common 



BOSTON COMMON 



cA DIARY OF NOTABLE EVENTS, 

INCIDENTS, AND NEIGHBORING 

OCCURRENCES 



By^ SAMUEL BARBER 



'Author of "Trash; a Society Novel", "A Matrimonial 
Experiment," Etc. 



7(R!ST0Pj(EI( 
publishing 

HOUSE 
BOSTON 






Copyright igi^ 
By Samuei, Barber 



M 14 1915 

THE CHRISTOPHER PRESS 
BOSTON, U, S. A. 



>. 



c^ 



To 

Miss Lois Hildegarde Hall 
o/* New York 

with the warmest friendship I inscribe this volume 



FOREWORD 

Boston Common belongs to the world. In or around it took 
place events which link it with the history of government for 
and by the people in this country. From it radiated the influences 
that led to democratic as opposed to aristocratic rule. To it can 
be traced the gatherings in town halls by the substantial men in 
Massachusetts, and other commonwealths; and the famous little 
red schoolhouses date their inspiration from the public exercises 
that took place on the classic green in Boston. As the years have 
progressed, interest in the Boston Common has increased year 
by year. Details that appeared to be of slight moment in the 
early history of the country are now sought after. Whatever has 
taken place there or in the vicinity of it has become in a sense 
hallowed to the lover of liberty. 

The very great distance in time between the present and the 
early planting of Boston Common, together with the apparent 
neglect of chroniclers of events in connection with it, has made 
difficult the collation of facts respecting the time honored centre 
of Boston. The author has endeavored to faithfully and chrono- 
logically register the results of his researches in the following 
pages. Accuracy has been his one desire and care. It is that 
feature on which he bases his right to be heard, and on which he 
believes that his efforts will be of profit to the reader. To those 
who have aided him, either by advice or by their registered 
dates, he returns his thanks and acknowledgements. 



BOSTOK 

Boston, the American Athens, stands in the front 
rank of social, commercial and political prominence. 
The reputation of families of culture has spread 
throughout the country, and its leading men, as one 
generation has followed another, have wielded a mighty 
influence in moulding public opinion and promoting its 
resources. It abounds in historic landmarks, which 
date from Colonial days, and its modern development, 
with its broad avenues, buildings and parks, has 
equalled, if not excelled, any city in the world. 



THE COMMON. 

The Common, with all its historic associations, is 
now the Park of the City with its fountains, statues, 
malls and lake. It has always been the scene of all 
kinds of incidents — historic, dramatic, tragic, and is 
now the feature in its landscape and beauty. It might 
be called an indicator of all that ever occurred in 
Boston. 



COLONIAL PERIOD 



1623 

Three years after tlie "Landing of the Pilgrims" a 
number of patents were granted by the Council of H^ew 
England, one being granted to William Blackstone at 
Shawmut (the Indian name meaning glistening foun- 
tain), on the Peninsula. Blackstone (called by some 
Blaxton) and known as "Boston's First Inhabitant" 
lived on his farm comprising eight hundred acres. He 
was a graduate of an English University and entering 
the ministry, was ordained in the church where, unable 
to conform to the strict laws and desiring "to get from 
under the power of the lords-bishops" came to America. 
He lived alone and, known as the "Hermit of Shaw- 
mut," enjoyed a tranquil repose. The locality of his 
house, a slight frame structure, is a matter of much 
doubt. Savage, Shaw, Snow, Drake, Shurtleff, Howe 
and others, variously place it on the westerly part of the 
Peninsula near the present Louisburg Square, Black- 
stone's Point, on Cambridge Bay, Barton's Point, 
Poplar or Cambridge Street, the vicinity of Charles- 
town Bridge and on the southwest slope of Beacon Hill 
with Cotton and Vane for neighbors, and also bounded 
by Beacon, Spruce and Pinckney Streets and the 
Charles River. 



10 BOSTOIT COMMOlSr 

A patent was granted, by the Council of ISTew Eng- 
land to Winthrop who, with his colony, now held all 
its rights with that of Massachusetts which lay outside 
of Plymouth and extended to the Atlantic Ocean. 

John Lothrop Motley in the charming novel "Merry 
Mount" (1849), "A Romance of the Massachusetts 
Colony," says — "It was in a secluded cove, with the 
bay in front, the three headed hill of Shawmut in the 
distance, and the primeval forest stretching out, in 
unfatliomable shade, behind and all around. 

The cottage was simple and rude, but picturesque in 
its effects. It was built of logs, which still retained 
their dark and mossy bark. It covered a considerable 
extent of ground; the thatched roof was low browed, 
with steep gables at the end, and two or three were 
furnished with small diamond panes of glass, a luxury 
which was at that day by no means common even in 
England. Over the door, which opened on the outside 
with a wooden latch, stood a pair of moose antlers, and 
on the ends of the projecting rafters, under the eaves, 
were suspended the feet of wolves, the tails of foxes, 
raccoons, and panthers, and other trophies of the chase. 
On the sward of Wildgrass around the house lay a heap 
of wild game which had recently been thrown there, — 
pied brant-geese, blue and green winged teal, two or 
three long necked, long-billed cranes, with a rabblerout 
of plump slate colored pigeons, lay promiscuously with 
a striped bass, dappled sea trout and other fish. It 
was evident that, although the sporting season had 
nearly reached its termination, there was yet no danger 
of starvation." 



Hawthorne, in "Twice Told Tales," savs in the 

7 7 t/ 

chapter entitled "The May Pole of Merry Mount," — 



BOSTON COMMON" 11 

"Bright were tlie days at Merry Mount, when the May 
Pole was the banner staff of that gay Colony ! They 
who reared it, should their banner be triumphant, were 
to pour sunshine over New England's rugged hills, and 
scatter flower seeds throughout the soil. Jollity and 
gloom were contending for empire. Midsummer eve 
had come, bringing deep verdure to the forest, and roses 
in her lap, of a more vivid hue than the tender buds of 
Spring. But May, or her mirthful spirit, dwelt all the 
year round at Merry Mount, sporting with the summer 
months, and revelling with Autumn, and basking in the 
glow of Winter's fireside. Through a world of toil 
and care she flitted with a dream like smile, and came 
hither to find a home among the lightsome hearts of 
Merry Mount." 



1630 

Dr. Holmes, in a poetical description, says: 
"Beneath the shaggy southern hill 
Lies wet and low the Shawmut plain. 
And hark ! the trodden branches crack ; 
A crow flaps off with startled scream; 
A straying woodchuck canters back ; 
A bittern rises from the stream ; 
Leaps from his lair a brightened deer ; 
An otter plunges in the pool ; 
Here comes old Shawmut's pioneer, 
The parson on his brindled bulk" 



Summer, 
The Arbella came, with other vessels, bringing the 
Winthrop Colony, which, after enduring many hard- 
ships arising from impure water, hunger, exposure, and 
disease, settled at Charlestown. Blackstone, touched 



12 BOSTOiq' COMMOI^ 

by their suffering, asked the Colony to cross the river 
and share his grounds, which, with other advantages, 
abounded in pure springs, shade, trees and pasture and 
relinquished to their use nearly all of his land, keeping 
only fifty acres and his own house which had covered 
his head for several years. His philanthropy extended 
and in a few years "finding that he had fallen under 
the power of the lords brethren" he also donated to the 
Colony the remainder of his estate, retaining but six 
acres for his own use, for which he was paid six shillings 
from each householder, though, in some instances, larger 
sums were paid pro rata — for the release. The sum 
aggregated about £30, which was mainly owing to the 
efforts of Governor Winthrop who was foremost in 
many public movements, Blackstone only claiming the 
honor of being the first discoverer and pioneer. The 
grounds now surrendered were appropriated as a "Com- 
mon and Training Field." They extended as far as 
the present Tremont Building and bounded by the 
present Beacon, Spruce and Pinckney Streets and the 
Charles River. 



Among the early settlers of Boston were John Odlin, 
Robert Walker, — the first who had settled on the 
Peninsula of Boston, — Prancis Hudson, and William 
Lytherland "ancient dwellers" and inhabitants of the 
town of Boston, who purchased from William Black- 
stone "his estate and right in any lands lying within 
said l^eck called Boston," for which every housekeeper 
was taxed six shillings, "some less, some considerably 
more." Upon this purchase the town laid out the 
"Common," as a "Training Field" and for the feeding 
of cattle to be known as common land and common to 
all the inhabitants. 



BOSTON COMMOK 13 

Two large trees that once stood on the Common have 
become a part of American history; — the "Liberty 
Tree" and the "Old Elm." The "Liberty Tree" was in 
a grove of elms at the corner of Essex and Washington 
Streets, opposite the Boylston Market, and, like the 
"Charter Oak" at Hartford, was destined to figure 
prominently in the early Colony. 

The famous "Old Elm," stood near the centre of the 
Common, and, it is said, was growing when discovered 
by the first settlers. Two other trees are said to have 
then stood, probably toward Park Street. These four 
trees were all that were then on the Common. Winthrop 
may have enjoyed the shade of the "Old Elm" when he 
was asked by Blackstone to cross over from Charles- 
town, in August, to exj)lore the locality for a new settle- 
ment, perchance, John Wilson may have preached his 
first sermon upon the Peninsula, and that the ancestral 
tribes of Obbatinewat and Squaw Sachem danced to 
many a Savage Eeast around the Indian fire where the 
kettle hung suspended from three cross poles in the 
centre of the round group. Some authorities say it was 
never known who planted the "Old Elm," again, it is 
said to have been transplanted by Hezekiah Henchman, 
— when a boy — and an uncle of Governor Hancock, 
from the I^orth end, about 1670, or his father — Daniel 
— at an earlier period. Rings counted in the "Old 
Elm," in 1860, showed it to have grown as early as 
1630. When the time came that fears were felt for 
the "Old Monarch," an iron clamp held one of its large 
limbs to the trunk, but which broke its bondage by its 
weight. Another limb was held by a rope while a 
round iron fence prevented injury by pedestrians walk- 
ing on the Common which was then, alternately. 



14 BOSTON COMMON" 

designated as "Gentry," "Century," and "Training 
Field." 



1632 May 24. 

The people of Charlestown, Eoxbury and Dorchester 
began to build a Fort at the top of Beacon Hill. 



Beacon Hill resembled a sugar loaf. 



1634 

A garden stood on the west side of Beacon Hill. 



Century, afterwards called Beacon Hill, on the 
Common. 



1635 

Beacon Hill, known in Colonial days as Tri-mountain 
and afterwards as Sentry Hill, got its last name when 
(1635) the Beacon was erected on its top by order of 
the General Court of the Colony, and which, as an alarm 
signal, made it a spot of great interest. It was the first 
point of land seen when the early settlers approached 
the shores of Massachusetts and the place where they 
landed after entering the harbor — the Beacon, with 
three peaks, showed the lantern, hung from a tall pole, 
resting on cross timbers with a stone foundation, with 
iron crane and hook, projecting from one side, intended 
to alarm the inhabitants in the event of an attack by the 
Indians. The Beacon was gradually ascended from 
the south and southeast sides, and now though reduced 
in height and covered by buildings, it is still the highest 
point of land on the Peninsula though it cannot be seen 
from any distance in the city. The State House, in its 
stately grandeur, occupies the top and the glistening 



BOSTON" COMMOI^ 15 

golden dome exceeds the early heightli of the hill which 
the colonists and townspeople climhed and looked afar 
off on the broad expense of meadow and ocean. Its 
first name — Tre-mount — came by its three hills. It 
had no name when Blackstone occupied the Peninsula, 
and its present name when it became the "lookout" 
of the town and weeklv drills were held on the "Train- 
ing Field," though its "Central" position, the building 
of the "Fort" (1632) and the "Windmill" gave it tem- 
porary designation. The settlement was, at different 
times, known as Shawmut, Tra-Mountaine and Boston 
and prior to that, Blackstone's ISTeck. One of the three 
small hills, which formed the group, was named "Cot- 
ton Hill" that stood near the end of Pemberton Square, 
nearly opposite to King's Chapel Burying Ground. 
Rev. John Cotton, (for whom it was named) lived near 
the hill on what is now Tremont Row. It was after- 
ward called Pemberton Hill. One of the Mathers says 
that three hundred skulls supposed to be those of In- 
dians, were dug up on Cotton Hill, showing a once 
Indian population on the Peninsula, yet no other evi- 
dences were found in any of the many excavations in 
early Boston. Beacon Hill, seen from Charlestown, 
was flat for a small space on the top where the "Light" 
was seen. It was a pasture for cattle and abounded in 
barberry and wild rose bushes. The march of improve- 
ments has entirely changed two of the hills, but it has 
often been regretted that the entire group could not 
have been preserved for their historic associations. The 
Common saved Beacon Hill, now marked by a monu- 
ment. 



Sha\vmut, the original name of the Peninsula, signi- 
fies "living fountains." 



16 BOSTOIT COMMOK 

The Beacon Light was erected on Gentry Hill. 



1637 May 13. 

The First Pound was established soon after the open- 
ing of the Common. The first record of the "fould 
keeper" bears the above date. 



September 28. 
William S. Schoiiler was hanged, on the Common, 
for murder. 



1638 June 1. 

A severe earthquake occurred in Boston and was felt 
on the Common. 



June 5. 
The journal of Governor Winthrop alludes to the 
arrival of ships with a respectable class of people aboard 
and, although no names of either ships or passengers 
are mentioned, yet, doubtless, John Josselyn, Gentle- 
men, a scientific scholar, came in one of them. He 
crossed in a vessel called the 'New Supply, alias, the 
l!^icholas, of London; Robert Taylor, Master, with one 
hundred and sixty-four passengers including men, 
women and children. Several died during the voyage 
from small-pox and other diseases. The ITicholas, 
arriving in the port of Boston came to anchor in the 
inner bay. Mr. Josselyn became the guest (July 10th) 
of Mr. Maverick, on l^oddles Island, whom he says was 
"the only hospitable man in all the country, giving 
entertainments to all comers gratis." In describing his 
visit to Boston, he also says : "Having refreshed myself 
for a day or two, upon ^Noddles Island I crossed the bay 
in a small boat to Boston which then was rather a vil- 



BOSTON COMMON 17 

lage than a town there being not above twenty or thirty 
houses. And presenting my respects to Mr. Winthrop, 
the Governor, and to Mr. Cotton, the Teacher, of Boston 
Church to whom I delivered, from Mr. Francis Quarles, 
the poet, the translation of the Psalms into English 
meter, for his approbation; being civilly treated by all 
I had occasion to converse with. I returned in the 
evening to my lodgings." John Josselyn, probably 
came over to visit his brother who was living at Black 
Point, and — July 20 — sailed for the eastern coast. His 
visit was made up of rambles about the country in which 
he found both amusement and admiration. He climbed 
steep declivities with his gun hung on his back, shot 
wolves that had been killing goats and killed snakes 
some being three yards long. He returned to Boston, 
September 24th, after a three days sail and visited a 
ship of 500 tons — Mr. Henderson; Master, lying in the 
harbour, also a privateer, the — Queen of Bohemia — 
Captain Jackson, and, landing in the town, procured 
some refreshments at the "Ordinary" (Inn). The next 
morning he was invited to a fisherman's house, in the 
bay, where the fisherman's wife presented him with a 
"handful of small pearl, but none of them bored, nor 
Orient." He visited Charlestown where, in "Long's 
Ordinary," he met Captain Jackson, and made other 
acquaintances, w^hen all took a walk encountering a 
rattlesnake long enough to swallow a live chicken. He 
visited a ship, during the afternoon, when he had the 
sight of an Indian pinnacle, sailing by — made of birch 
bark, sewed together with roots of spruce and white 
cedar (drawn out into threads) with a deck and 
trimmed with sails, top and top-gallant, very sumpt- 
uously." He returned to the house of Mr. Maverick, 
on Noddles Island — September 30, where having been 



18 BOSTON COMMOiT 

three months lacking a week — since July 3rd — he re- 
mained until he sailed for England. Rambling 
through the woods "on the back side of the house," 
during the short interval prior to his departure, one day 
he saw a wasp's nest which he thought was "a fruit like 
a pineapple" notwithstanding, "it was planted with 
scales and as big as the crown of a woman's hat," and 
attempting to gather it caused a swarm of wasps to fly 
around his head one stinging him on the upper lip 
which so disfigured his face that he became unrecogniz- 
able and was only known by the clothes he wore. On 
his departure, the ship laid at i^antasket for some days 
before proceeding to sea, when the Master, Captain 
Luxon, came ashore, on Governor's Island, returning 
with some pippins of which he gave ten to Mr. Josselyn, 
who said, "there is not an apple tree, nor pear tree, yet 
planted, in no part of the country, but upon that 
Island." 



Dorothy Talbe, an insane woman, who had killed her 
child to save it from future punishment, was hanged, 
probably, on the Common. It was believed that the 
deed had been prompted by the devil who would be 
justly retributed by her death. 



1640 March 30. 

A man was chosen to "keep the cowes which goe on 
the Common," who was paid "two shillings and six- 
pence the head for every cowe that goes there." A few 
years afterward a shepherd was appointed. 



A law was passed for the protection of the Common. 
It was provided that "no land should be sold for either 
house plot or garden between Sentry Hill and Mr. 



BOSTON COMMON 19 

Colbron's end save three or four lots required for a 
street from Brother Robert Walker's to the Round 
Marsh. Edward Bayties, being at Isle Sables, shall 
have six months to build on his lot. Ordered that the 
street from Mr. Atherton Haughe's to Sentry Hill be 
laid out and kept open for ever. William Davis, gun- 
smith, to have 20 acres at the Mount. William Briscoe, 
tailor, to have lot between Robert Walker's and the 
Round Marsh and to look to the fences, Richard Fair- 
banks and William Salter, the field toward Roxbury; 
Benjamin Gillam and Edward Jacklyn the Fort field, 
William Hudson and Edward Bendall the New field; 
Mr. Valentine Hill and John Button, the Millfield." 
To prevent any further encroachments three commis- 
sioners were sent to England. 



1641 

The new slope of the Centinel Hill was familarly 
called "Zachariah Phillips five acre pasture." 



1643 March 21. 

James Britton and Mary Latham were hanged on the 
Common for murder. 



Boston was visited by a distinguished Frenchman — 
La Tour — who, having had invalided claims, bequeathed 
by his father, in Nova Scotia, thought himself entitled 
to consideration by the English colonists. A rivalry in 
trade had broken out between La Tour and D'Aulney 
who had a trading post on the Penobscot and had become 
Governor of Arcadie. The case was carried to the 
French Courts and La Tour was given possession of the 
Fort, and the right to establish a house at the mouth of 
the St. Johns and the entire Arcadian peninsula except 



20 BOSTOE" COMMON 

— Port Eoyal and Le Havre, La Tour, having broken 
up the trading house between Plymouth and Machias, 
May 4th, and defying the King, entered Boston harbor 
in a ship full of armed men and first sent word in a 
shallop to Governor Winthrop who, with his family, 
were residing on an island. The sight of the vessel 
created great alarm among the inhabitants who rushed 
to arms. The Governor was advised to come to Boston ! 
Three shallops were rowed ashore. La Tour in one of 
them, who, presenting his commission, asked leave to 
land his men, saying that he had sailed away from 
Rochelle and, unable to enter the harbor of St. Johns, 
blockaded by D'Aulney with two ships and five hundred 
men, had sailed for Boston, also saying he would land 
them in small companies to prevent any excitement. 
Permission was granted and a "training day" set when 
Governor Winthrop dined the officers at his house and 
the town soldiers welcomed the men to their homes. 
Forty soldiers, in full uniform, led by Rev. John Cotton 
and the colonial train land — numbering one hundred 
and fifty were then escorted to the Common, where they 
were drilled in the presence of the Governor, a number 
of Magistrates and a large concourse of people who 
thought them to be very expert in their manoeuvres, but 
the "sudden attack" so frightened the women and chil- 
dren that it was declared to be highly imprudent to have 
allowed them to leave the vessel. La Tour became well 
acquainted with a number of Boston merchants and, 
with an air of great piety, attended meetings and lec- 
tures. He obtained the consent of Winthrop to charter 
vessels and hire men for the relief of St. Johns, and, 
mth a fleet of four ships besides his own, proceeded 
there, breaking the blockade and compelling D'Aulney 
to flee to Port Royal. Governor Winthrop's action 



BOSTON COMMOIT 21 

made him very unpopular. La Tour returned to Boston 
(1645) soliciting and, but only received deep reproba- 
tion and then went to New Foundland and again shortly 
afterward, returned to Boston living for a winter on the 
charity of friends, his sailors wandering in great distress 
about the streets. 



1644 April 8. 

William Franklin was hung on the Common for 
murder. 



April 9. 

Gallows were erected on the Common. 



August 26. 
A large meteor caused great consternation on the 
Common. 



During the Civil War in England a war vessel^ com- 
manded by Captain Stagg, arrived at Boston without 
exchanging signals with the Beacon. Encountering a 
Bristol ship, in the harbor, in sight of the Common, it 
compelled it to surrender much to the surprise of the 
inhabitants, who wondered how any such liberty could 
be taken without a commission from the Earl of War- 
wick. As the City of Bristol had surrendered to the 
Royalists, a year before, all her ships were claimed as 
prizes to the ships of Parliament. No interference was 
attempted, but the Colonists passed a law "not to permit 
any ship to fight in the harbor without license from 
authority," thus ignoring any Parliamentary Commis- 
sion from that time. 



22 BOSTOIT COMMON 

1646 May 18. 

A proclamation of Governor Winthrop restricted the 
Common to the exclusive use of the inhabitants of the 
town. No person could dispose of the privilege and 
no dry cattle, young cattle, or horse should be permitted 
there, and that only seventy cows and Elder Oliver's 
horse should graze, under the penalty of a fine. One 
cow only could be grazed by one person, which law was 
altered a few years afterward allowing four sheep in- 
stead of a cow, if desired. The keeper's fee was two 
shillings and sixpence for each cow, eight pence for a 
sheep and three pence for a lamb. 



Boston had another distinguished visitor in Captain 
Cromwell, the Buccaneer, in command of three brigan- 
tines armed with cannon and a full number of men. 
Cromwell carried a kind of commission from the Earl 
of Warwick by which he claimed authority to act on 
the sea, and proceeding to the West Indies captured 
three Spanish prizes each with a valuable cargo. En- 
countering a storm his little fleet were driven into 
Plymouth which Winthrop thought to be an act of 
divine providence "so directing for the comfort and 
help of the town which was now almost deserted." The 
visitors spent their money freely and gave liberally to 
the poor, yet were watched closely by the Plymouth 
magistrates by virtue of their authority. Cromwell 
and his men came to Boston where, it was said, "he and 
all his men had much money and great stores of plate 
and jewels of great value, yet, he took up his lodging 
in a poor, thatched house; and, when he was offered 
the best in the town, his answer was, that "in his mean 
estate that poor man entertained him when others would 
not, and therefore he would not leave him now, when 



BOSTO]^ COMMON 23 

he might do him good." He presented Winthrop with 
an elegant Sedan chair found among his prizes and was 
thought to have been intended by the Viceroy of Mexico 
as a gift to his sister. Captain Cromwell also members 
of his crew were seen on the Common. 



1647 March 29. 

Digging sods was forbidden on the Common. 



1648 June 15. 

Witchcraft in ISFew England recalls an exciting 
period when suspected persons were thought to be in 
direct communication with the evil one, and, who, under 
his direct influence, worked different forms of iniquity 
to their neighbors, and, regarded as cruel, revengeful 
and bloody, became a pest to society. Almost every 
domestic mishap was supposed to have been caused by 
some "bewitched" person, who, being tried, was in some 
instances, put to death. The first execution for witch- 
craft in Boston on this date was that of Margaret 
Jones, the wife of Thomas Jones of Charlestown who, 
also, was arrested and tried on the same charge, but was 
acquitted. She was a doctress who used simple reme- 
dies composed of anise seed, liquors, etc., but, which, 
administered in small doses, produced wonderful 
effects. Probably her words were a source of healing 
through the mind, while her touch was said to impart 
a charm. She had bewitched no one, but was arrested 
on the charge of possessing imps. Her trial created 
much excitement as the General Court was composed 
of Governor Winthrop, who presided, and was assisted 
by Thomas Dudley, Deputy Governor John Endicott, 
Eichard Bellingham, Richard Saltonstall, Increase 
ISTowell, Simon Bradstreet, William Hibbins (whose 



24 BOSTON COMMON" 

widow was executed for witchcraft) John Winthrop, 
Jr., and William Pynchon (who afterward presided 
over the examinations at Springfield) all of whom were 
founders of the Colony. Margaret Jones was convicted 
on six charges, four were : ( 1 ) that her malignant touch 
on many persons, under any circumstances produced 
deafness, vomiting, violent pains, etc. (2) The violent 
effects that resulted from her simple medicines. (3) 
That she declared cure to be hopeless to all who refused 
to take her medicines causing them to relapse into a 
worse condition. (4) That she prophesied events that 
came to pass and of which, it was thought, she had no 
knowledge. 

During her trial she falsified and insulted the Court 
and witnesses by loud imprecations. The Court and 
Deputy's records mention no names, but say that the 
Court will pursue the same method as that followed in 
England to watch and discover witches and, alluding 
to Margaret Jones, orders that she be watched each 
night, and, also her husband who was confined in a 
separate room. ISTight was the time for watching when 
it was believed that the imps came in the form of 
spectres, man, women, boy, dog, cat, foal, hare, rat, 
toad, etc., causing all kinds of queer actions, sickness, 
spasms, etc., those suspected of being witches were sat 
on a stool, with crossed legs, and bound with cords, put 
in the centre of the room where they were not allowed 
to either eat or sleep for twenty-four hours, during 
which a close watch was kej)t for the imp to enter 
through a small hole in the door. When Thomas Jones 
was released from prison, not wishing to stay longer in 
America, he took passage for England aboard the ship 
"Welcome" that lay at anchor before Charlestown. By 
an odd co-incidence as soon as Jones went aboard a 



BOSTON COMMON 25 

storm arose that caused the ship to rolL The County 
Court, then in session, again ordered that Jones be 
arrested, saying that ''the ship would stand still as soon 
as he was in prison !" and, strange to say, as the war- 
rant was shown to him the storm ceased, Margaret 
Jones was, probably, hung from a limb of the "Old 
Elm" on the Common, l^othing is known of the 
scene at the execution, except that at the same hour 
and on the same day a violent storm blew down many 
trees in Connecticut which gave more credence to the 
fallacies of witchcraft. 



1650 

The Common might be said to be a mass of rocks 
and bushes and mud flats, that reached far out into the 
water, were known as "the marsh at the bottom of the 
Common." 



The marsh at the foot of the Common, was mostly 
covered Avith rocks and bushes, and extended from the 
water to above the present Park Street. There was 
Fox Hill, Powder House Hill, the most prominent. 
Flag Staff Hill, and at a later period, the Watch House. 



1651 May 29. 

The second victim of witchcraft in Boston was Mary 
Parsons, wife of Hugh Parsons of Springfield, who 
was charged with "devilish practices" on Martha and 
Rebecca Moxon, daughters of George Moxon a Spring- 
field clergyman, and also for the murder of her own 
child. Pleading guilty to the second charge she was 
sentenced to be hung. The trial took place at Spring- 
field when, after sentence, many thinking her insane, 
she obtained a reprieve of a few weeks. She was ex- 



26 BOSTON COMMON 

ecuted, but whether in Boston or Springfield cannot be 
ascertained. 



October 10, 
Zachens Bosworth sold to Thomas Millard an acre of 
land which was a "part of the State House lot." 



William Pjnchon, who arrived with Governor 
Winthrop's colony, returned to England where he wrote 
a book entitled "The Meretricious Price of our Redemp- 
tion," which, creating great excitement, was denounced 
in the Colony as containing "many errors and heresies," 
When Pynchon came back to the colonies he was met 
every where with jeers and hisses, and, twice ordered 
before the court, each time refused to appear, when he 
abandoned the colony. The court ordered the Com- 
mon hangman to burn the book on the Common. 



1652 

James and Peter Oliver built a wind mill on Powder 
House Hill, and, three years before Thomas Painter, 
by an annual payment of forty shillings, obtained the 
right to build a wind mill on Fox Hill, There were 
three small ponds, Frog Pond, Horse Pond and Shee- 
han's Pond, where cattle gathered at the foot of the 
hills. The largest was Frog Hill, Horse Pond, 
though but a small pool, slaked the thirst of many a 
weary animal and Sheehan's Pond, a marsh, derived its 
name from a criminal executed near the locality. 



1653 November 8. 

Rev, John Lathrop (Lorthropp), an "Independent 
Divine" died at Barnstable, Massachusetts, and was 
buried in the Granary Burying Ground. 



BOSTON COMMON 27 

1656 Makch'31. 

Gallows on the Common were ordered to be removed 
"to ye next Knowle." 



June 19. 

The third execution for witchcraft in Boston was 
that of Mrs. Ann Hibbins, a widow, the wife of William 
Hibbins, a leading Boston merchant and one of the 
most prominent citizens of the colony. He died in 
1654 having been Deputy to the General Court in 
1641-2, which tried Margaret Jones, and Assistant from 
1643 until his death. He was agent of the colony in 
England, and, being a man of wealth and culture, he 
and his wife moved in the most select circles of Boston. 
Mrs. Hibbins is also said to have been a sister of 
Richard Bellingham who was Governor in 1641 and 
Deputy Governor when her life was forfeited by her 
delusion. It would seem strange that her high social 
position could not have shielded her from her fate, and, 
again, no evidence can be found by which she was con- 
victed. On her first trial in 1655 the verdict was set 
aside, and again, May 14th, the next year, she was 
brought before the General Court where, called to the 
bar, she declared her perfect willingness to be "tried by 
God and the Court !" Found guilty of witchcraft the 
Governor pronounced her sentence — "to go from the bar 
to the place from whence she came, and from thence to 
the place of execution, and there to hang till she was 
dead." 

Not one of the jury, who tried Mrs. Hibbins^ resided 
in Boston which shows plainly that no local prejudice 
affected the verdict. It was said that her husband's 
pecuniary losses had so reduced his estate that she 
became ugly and quarrelsome, which caused church 



28 BOSTON" COMMOl^ 

discipline and made her odious to the neighbors so that 
she was accused of witchcraft, while public clamor had 
much to do with her conviction. Mrs. Hibbins was, 
also, probably hung from the same limb of the "Old 
Elm." ISTothing is said about the scene of the locality, 
but after the execution a search was made in her chests 
and boxes for puppets, images or any articles of sorcery, 
but nothing was found. Her death produced feelings 
both of sympathy and satisfaction, some saying she was 
a saint and some a witch. Mrs. Hibbins was twice 
married, her former husband was a gentleman named 
Moore and by whom she had three sons all residing in 
England, The youngest son on hearing of his mother's 
misfortune came to Boston and probably saw her before 
her death. Her will is alluded to as a "calm, well 
worded and sensible document." It is found in the 
Suffolk Probates, dated May 27th, 1656, and is ap- 
praised at £344 and 14s. Its inventory mentions a 
diamond and gold wedding ring, a taifetty cloake, silk 
gown and kirtle, pink colored petticoat, etc. Thomas 
Clarke, Edward Hutchinson, William Hudson, Joshua 
Scottow, and Peter Oliver are appointed as Overseers 
and Administrators. Thomas Clarke was a Deputy in 
the General Court. Joshua Scottow and Peter Oliver 
were Selectmen and the rest all well known Boston citi- 
zens. She adds in a "codicial" "I do earnestly desire 
my loving friends Captain (Edward) Johnson, Mr. 
Edward Rawson to be added to the rest of the gentle- 
men mentioned as Overseers to my will to whom I 
commit, namely, to Captain Johnson's care and trust 
my two chests and desk with all things therein, to be 
kept entirely whole and in kind, till my eldest son John, 
or his order, authenticated by a public notary, who shall 
come and demand the same." Mr. Rawson was the 



BOSTON COMMON^ 29 

Secretary of the General Court and to his charge she 
delivered the keys of her chest and desk, and also her 
private papers. And of her burial, she says, "My 
desire is that all my overseers would be pleased to show 
so much respect for my dead corpse, as to cause it to be 
decently interred, and, if it may be, near my late hus- 
band." Learning of her son's expected arrival three 
days before her execution, — "I give my son Jonathan 
£20, over and above what I have already given him, 
towards his pains and charge in coming to see me, which 
shall be the first paid out of my estate." And again, on 
the morning of her execution, she adds, "My further 
mind and will is (sic) out of my sense of the more than 
ordinary affection and pains of my son Jonathan in the 
time of my distress, I give him, as a further legacy 
£10." The high standing of those chosen to administer 
the affairs of Mrs. Hibbins shows her station in life, 
while the expressions of gratitude to her friends is a 
clear proof that efforts were made to save her from her 
awful end on the gallows. Her execution was loudly 
denounced by the pulpit. 



Matoonas, one of King Philips Sagamores, was tied 
to a tree and shot on the Common. 



1659 Maech 16. 

William Ledro the fourth victim was hung on the 
Common for being a Quaker. 



October 20. 

The early persecution of the Quakers in Boston led 

to many arrests and several executions. People were 

thrown into prison, their faces blackened, or publicly 

whipped in the Market Place. William Kobinson and 



30 BOSTON COMMOIT 

Marmaduke Stevenson, both of whom had emigrated 
from Yorkshire, England, and Mary Dyer, an Anti 
nomian, of Rhode Island, were sentenced to be hanged 
on the Common. The hanging was done under the 
order of Chief Marshall Edward Michelson of Cam- 
bridge. The only authority regarding the locality is 
found in an old record which says "I suppose the branch 
of the tree was the gallows." Perhaps the "Great Tree" 
near the Frog Pond. Robinson and Stevenson, during 
their confinement, wrote a warning dated, "In the 
Common Gaol, in the bloody town of Boston, the 6th 
month, 1659," and which began, "Hearken and give 
ear, thou town of Boston, lend an ear, O ye Rulers, 
Chief Priests and Inhabitants thereof ! Listen all you 
that dwell therein. Rich and Poor, small and great, 
high and low. Bond and Free, of what sort so ever, 
give ear, etc." Robinson also wrote a short exhorta- 
tion, dated, "In the Hole of the Condemned, in Boston 
Gaol, the 16th day of the 8th month, 1659." 

Robinson and Stevenson walked to the gallows while 
the sound of drums drowned their voices as they en- 
deavored to speak. Rev. John Wilson denounced the 
culprits until the last moment, when both men met 
their death with cheerfulness and composure and 
embraced each other in parting. When the "stiff" 
bodies were cut down they fell to the ^ground breaking 
Robinson's skull, their shirts were ripped open and 
the bodies cast into a hole. A friend, Nicholas Upsal — 
caused a fence to be put up around the hole which pre- 
vented the bodies from being devoured by wild beasts, 
and which, uncovered, soon filled with stagnant water. 
Mary Dyer also ascended the ladder when, with arms 
and legs tied and the rope drawn 'round her neck, her 
son earnestly pleaded in her behalf when she was 



BOSTON COMMOIT 31 

liberated. As the crowd were returning the "draw" 
of the bridge fell killing a woman and seriously injur- 
ing several others, which the Quakers said was an act 
of providence on the "wrongfully persecuted." Mary 
Dyer was banished from the colony. 



1660 May 30. 

The General Court passed an order which gave the 
almost exclusive control of the Common to the Select- 
men of the Town. 



The Common was bounded on the north by Beacon 
Street, the Granary Burying Ground and Sentry 
(afterward Park) Street. On the south by the open 
pastures on the north side of Frog Lane, (Boylston 
Street), and southwest by the west side of the burial 
ground and ran nearly parallel with Carver Street as 
far as water. 



June 1. 
Mary Dyer "persuaded that her death was necessary 
returned the next year and delivering herself to Gov- 
ernor Endicott against the wishes of the Court" was 
also hanged on the Common. She was led to the 
scaffold by a number of armed men led by John Webb 
who, with some others, engaged in killing a whale, 
shortly afterwards, was carried out to sea and drowned. 
It was said of them "Mary Dyer whom your barberous 
hands slew and hung upon a tree." She was also 
alluded to as a "true and noble woman whose only 
offence was pleading the cause of religious freedom." 
She left a family and lies buried in some unknown 
place on the Common. Her husband owned an estate. 



32 BOSTOIT COMMO:^ 

"Old Jethro," an Indian, and some Quakers are also 
thought to have been hung on the Common. 



The first almshouse in Boston was built on the corner 
of Park and Beacon Streets, on the Common. It was 
burned twenty years afterwards and was rebuilt in 
1686, two stories in height with a gambrel roof, and a 
wing added for better accommodation. Urchins were 
often seen begging outside the fence. Besides an alms- 
house it was also used for a hospital and insane asylum. 



The old Granary Burying Ground was first started. 



The waste land, extending from the almshouse to 
the burial ground, was taken for a second burial place 
on the Common, 



Cows grazed on the Common. 



1661 

A fatal accident occurred to General Humphrey 
Atherton who, while returning home on horseback at 
night struck a cow, in the darkness, on the Common 
and was thrown from his horse and killed. 



Rules prohibited mowing grass, or digging sods, 
on the Common, though gravel was dug on Fox hill, 
the present location of the Public Garden. Permission 
was also granted to fetch sand, or clay, from the same 
hill. 



Besides the Great Elm tree there was the Tyburn 
Tree with a synonymous history. 



BOSTON COMMON 33 

1662 January 26. 

An earthquake doing considerable damage in town 
was felt on the Common. 



OCTOBEK 18. 
King Philip, chief of the tribe, visited Boston and 
the Common, 



1663 Tuesday, May 28. 

John Josselyn, Gentleman, again visited Boston 
remaining in the country over eight years. Of his 
departure from England he writes: — "Anno 1663, May 
the three and twentieth, I went down to Gravesend, it 
being Saturday; I lay ashore till Monday, the fifth, 
about eleven o'clock at night I went aboard the Society 
(a ship) belonging to Boston, in the Massachusetts 
Colony of English in New England, of 200 and 20 tun, 
carrying sixteen iron guns, most (of them) unservice- 
able, manned with thirty-three sailors, and seventy- 
seven passengers ; men, women and children." The 
voyage was uneventful as the only incidents noted are 
a shoal of turtles forty inches in extent, the finding of 
a shallop from Jamaica containing a crew of ten men, 
nearly famished, and the meeting of a Plymouth vessel, 
when ten weeks out — laden with cloth, fruit and honey, 
bound for Boston 

The six and twentieth we had sight of land, the 
seven and twentieth we anchored at Nantascot. In the 
afternoon I went on board of a ketch, with some of our 
passengers, in hope to get to Boston that night, but the 
Master of the ketch would not consent." Of his arrival 
in Boston, he writes, — "The eight and twentieth being 
Tuesday, in the morning about five o'clock he lent us 
his shallop and three of his men, who brought us to the 



34 BOSTOI^ COMMON 

western end of the town where we landed, and having 
gratified (satisfied) the men, we repaired to an ordinary 
(for so they called taverns there), where we were pro- 
vided with a liberal cup of burnt Madeira wine, and 
store of plum cake. About ten o'clock I went about 
my affairs." 

Mr. Josselyn stayed in and around Boston until 
September (during which period the Dutch Governor 
of ISTew ISTetherlands visited the Town, receiving the 
hospitality of the Governor and Magistrates and visited 
the Common). He then went to the house of his 
brother at Black Point. His first visit to Boston, on 
his final return to England, he describes thus : "Bos- 
ton is built on the southwest side of a bay large enough 
for the anchorage of 500 sail of ships. The buildings 
are handsome, joyning one to the other as in London, 
with many large streets, most of them paved with 
pebblestone. In the high street, towards the Common, 
there are fair buildings ; some of stone, and at the east 
end of the Town, one amongst the rest, built by the 
shore, by Mr. Gibs (probably Mr, Benjamin Gibbs) a 
merchant, being a stately edifice, which, it is thought, 
will stand him in little less than £3000, before it is 
fully finished. The Town is not divided into parishes, 
yet they have three fair meeting houses of churches, 
which hardly sufiice to receive the inhabitants and 
strangers that come in from all parts. 

"Having refreshed myself here for some time, and 
opportunely lighting upon a passage in a bark belonging 
to a friend of my brother's, and bound to the eastward, 
I put to sea again; and on the fifteenth of August I 
arrived at Black Point, otherwise called Scarborow, the 
habitation of my beloved brother, being about an hun- 
dred leagues to the eastward of Boston. Here I resided 



BOSTOlSr COMMON 35 

eight years, and made it my business to discover all 
along the natural, physical and chryrurgical rarities of 
this new fonnd world." 

Again he says, "The passage from Boston to Charles- 
town is by a ferry, worth £40 or £50 a year." 

His time had been passed in scientific research, tak- 
ing no part in political agitations. He returned to 
London in the same vessel, the l^ew Supply, now com- 
manded by Captain Fairweather, at the close of 16Y1. 
Mr. Josselyn, in alluding to Boston, on his last voyage, 
quotes from the work of Captain Johnson, thus : "The 
houses are for the most part raised on the sea banks, 
and wharf ed out with great industry and cost ; many of 
them standing upon piles, close together on each side 
of the street, as in London, and furnished with many 
fair shops. Their materials are brick, stone, lime, 
handsomely contrived, with three meeting houses, or 
churches, and a Town house, built upon pillars, where 
the merchants may confer. In the chambers above they 
keep their monethly Courts. The town is rich and 
populous. On the south there is a small, but pleasant. 
Common, where the Gallants, a little before sunset, 
walk with their Marmalet-madams, as we do in More- 
fields, till the nine o'clock bell rings them home to their 
respective habitations. When presently, the Constables 
walk their rounds to see good order kept, and to take up 
the people." 



The Common was the beauty and pride of the Town, 
ever suggesting the lighter side of life. 



1668 

The Hancock family claimed to have planted the 
"Old Elm." 



36 BOSTON COMMOK 

1669 

Thomas Millard died bequeathing "a small parcel of 
land on the side of the Century Hill and fronting the 
Common." This included nearly all the State House 
lot. 



1670 

An Indian was hung on the Common, for the murder 
of Zachary Smith in Dedham woods. 



A tradition, says, that the "Old Elm" was set out by 
Hezekiah Henchman, or his father Daniel at an earlier 
period. 



Copeley's, west of Beacon Hill, on the Common. 



1672 Decembek 7. 

Governor Bellingham died and was buried in the 
Granary Burying Ground, He was Governor for ten 
years and on the day he died. When the family became 
extinct the tomb was given to Governor James Sullivan 
who found it "partly filled with water and the coffin 
and remains of the Governor floating around in the 
ancient vault" after being buried for nearly a century. 
Shurtleff says, "a hundred years form a strong period 
for such a kind of navigation." He lived on Tremont 
Street and died at the age of eighty-four. 



Across the ISTeck a long ditch ran with brick wall 
where cannon pointed through embrasures. Sentries 
kept watch night and day guarding the town from any 
attack by the Indians. 



West, a spur of Beacon Hill, on the Common. 



BOSTO:^ COMMON 3Y 

16Y3 

John Turner sold to Samuel Shrimpton a small strip 
of land (23 x 180) leading up from the Training Field 
to Gentry Hill. 



1675 September 22. 

John Littlejohn was hung, on the Common, for 
murder. 



Some Indians captured in St. Philip's War were 
hung on the Common. The hangman was Chief Mar- 
shall Edward Michelson. 



1676 July 27. 

Old Matoonas, who, with 160 of his tribe, sur- 
rendered in the Indian War was "bound with cords," 
and charged with the first murder in the Massachusetts 
Colony, was brought into Boston and condemned to 
death. His betrayer "Sagamore John," who had con- 
nived the surrender, and his men were made execution- 
ers. "Old Matoonas" was led to the Common where, 
tied to a tree, he was shot. His father was hung several 
years previously. 



August. 
About thirty Indian prisoners of war were hung on 
the Common. 



!N0VEMBEK 27. 
The largest fire that had ever happened in Boston 
destroyed much property. It was caused by a boy 
carelessly setting a candle and going to sleep. The 
flames started at the Red Lion Tavern an hour before 
day light, and raging three or four hours, destroyed 



38 BOSTON COMMON" 

five dwellings, several warehouses, the Second Church, 
and Increase Mather's house. A strong southeast wind, 
which changed to the south, caused the flames to spread 
over a wide space (Richmond, Hanover and Clark 
Streets) as far as the water. Buildings were blown up 
and a heavy rainfall prevented further damage, other- 
wise the whole south end of the town would have been 
laid in ashes. Many saved their household effects by 
carrying them to the Common. 



1677 

A second burial place was started on the Common. 



1678 

Nine Indians were shot on Windmill Hill. 



Permission was given to John Woodmansey to use 
the burial ground on the Common as a pasture. 



Sewall's Diary says : "A whipping post is set by the 
middle Watch House" on the Common, where many 
suffered for various offences. 



1680 

The Green Dragon Tavern on Union Street, a few 
steps from Hanover, was built about this year, and 
was long an old landmark. During the Revolution 
Samuel Adams, James Otis, Joseph Warren, Paul 
Revere and other patriots held meetings within its 
walls. Its lodgers came to the Common. 



1681 

John Turner died when his executor was empowered 
to sell his "house and land on the upper end of the 



BOSTON COMMON 39 

Common or Training Field, and tlie land on Beacon 
Hill." 



Colonel Samuel Shrimpton bought a side of Beacon 
Hill running a passage from the Common, 



1683 October 5. 

Hon. John Hull "Mint Master," died, and was buried 
in the "Hull Tomb" in the Granary Burying Ground. 
He was treasurer of the Colony and coined the cele- 
brated New England shillings. 



1684 

A clause in the city charter prevented the Common 
and Faneuil Hall from ever being sold. 



1685 Apeil 3. 

News of the death of King Charles II was much 
talked about in town and on the Common. 



Judge Sewall writes that "a Quaker or two" went to 
the Governor to get permission to surround the ground 
with pales, under the gallows, where the quakers were 
buried. The Governor refused the plea to the Council, 
who denied the request thinking it "very convenient" 
for any such persons "so dead and buried" to be so 
designated. 



1686 March 11. 

James Morgan — a murderer, was hung on the Com- 
mon. Some came a distance of fifty miles to witness 
the execution which was the first in seven years. 
Morgan had threatened a man that, if he came inside 
his door, he "wou'd run the spit into his bowels !" which 



40 BOSTON COMMOI^ 



he did. The prison, where Morgan was kept, is de- 
scribed as a "house of meagre looks and ill smells, for 
lice, drink, and tobacco are the compound, or if you 
will, too the suburbs of hell, and the persons much the 
same as these." 



1688 ' January 9, 

Mr. Sampson Sheafe was attacked, knocked down and 
robbed, by two ruffians, on the Common. A man named 
Humbleton, who was present, it was thought instigated 
the act. 



June 9. 

Another account says: 

Lawrence Hammond says in his diary; "this evening 
Mr. Sampson Sheafe was set upon in Boston Common, 
and knocked down and robbed by two ruffiians. One 
Humbleton being present, who, it is judged, hired them 
to do it." Bobbers and highwaymen had not entirely 
disappeared from the Common. 



l^OVEMBER 5. 

Pope's Day — effigies were (as always) burned and 
bonfires blazed on the Common, where precautions were 
taken that no injury should be done to the trees. 



iN'oVEMBEE 16. 
The fourth and last execution for witchcraft in Bos- 
ton was the woman Goody Glover who was hung, prob- 
ably from the "Old Elm" on the Common. She was 
charged with imparting the spell of witchery to the 
four children of John Goodwin a "sober and pious" 
Mason who lived in South Boston. The records of this 
execution are probably more complete than any of the 



BOSTO]^ COMMOIT 41 

rest as Cotton Mather bares tlie circumstances in his 
Memorable Providences" in 1689. It was regarded as 
the most alarming of any of the cases. The children, 
all of a docile and sweet disposition, had been reared 
in the religious forms of the Colonial period. The 
eldest, a girl of thirteen or fourteen, had said the 
laundress had taken family linen, whereupon the 
mother of the servant, an Irish woman of bad character, 
used insulting language to the girl resulting in her 
having diabolical fits. A sister and two brothers also 
showed alarming symptoms, and, similarly tormented, 
were kept in separate rooms, none being aware of the 
condition of the others. At intervals they were deaf, 
dumb and blind, and, at other times, all three disorders 
would appear together. "Their tongues would be drawn 
their throats, then pulled out upon their chins, their 
jaws, necks, shoulders, elbows and all their joints 
would appear to be dislocated, and they would make the 
most piteous outcries of burning, being cut with knives, 
beat, etc." Joshua Moody, Minister of the First 
Church, says : "The children would also shoAV torments 
in their head, eyes, tongue, teeth, breaking their neck, 
back, thighs, knees, legs, feet, toes, etc., and then would 
roar out: 'O' my head! O' my neck!' etc. And, it 
is also said, they would 'bark like dogs, purr like cats,' 
and complain that they were 'punched,' 'pricked,' 
'pulled' or 'cut.' A day of fasting and prayer was ap- 
pointed in Boston and Charlestown for the children 
when the youngest child recovered. The other three 
remained 'bewitched.' When the woman was arrested 
and, who refusing to either affirm or deny the charges, 
met her death saying that the children would "never 
be relieved." 

During the trial of Goody Glover small images or 



42 BOSTON COMMON 

puppets made of rags and stuffed with goat's hair were 
found in her house and shown in the court room when 
she wet her finger and stroking the image, said it was 
her procedure of venting her anger on victims. When 
asked if she had a friend to appear in her behalf, she, 
at first, replied "Yes!" but gazing upward, said, "No, 
he is gone !" Cries were heard at night toward a devil, 
with whom she had communed, for deserting her. Dur- 
ing her confinement in jail Goodj Glover was visited 
by Cotton Mather, grandson of the "Great Cotton," 
who assisted his father in the pastorate of the North 
Church in Boston, and who, after the execution, took 
the three children to his house where they all recovered 
through the "efficacy of prayer." 



1689 Friday, January 17. 

Two pirates were condemned, at the Town House, to 
be hanged on the Common. 



January 17. 

Sewall says, in his "Diary" ; that, in company with 
Cotton Mather, he visited the Pirates, who, convicted 
on that day, were afterward hung on the Common. 



• January 27. 
Captain James Hawkins and seven Pirates were hung 
on the Common. 



April 18. 
Soon after Sir Edmund Andros had assumed the 
charge of the government the use of Beacon Hill became 
a matter of public discussion when it was declared that 
the Beacon Hill had not been erected to guard against 
the Indians, but against the local authorities whom, it 



BOSTON COMMON 43 

was deemed, had oppressed the people since the old char- 
ter was rescinded, Andros claimed that the Peninsula 
then reverted to the King, This created a widespread 
indignation among the settlers, who maintained that 
the householders of Boston were entitled to the land by 
the Blackstone purchase, and besides that in 1684-5 
they had also settled an Indian claim to the Peninsula, 
when Andros declared that an Indian signature bore 
no more legal meaning than the "scratch of a bear's 
claw." The Andros rebellion followed and the people 
all rose in arms, drums beat throughout the town and 
an ensign was displayed from the Beacon and, when the 
rebellion closed, the "Jack" was hoisted up at the Fort 
and the colors again waving at Beacon Hill, notified a 
thousand soldiers at Charlestown that all was over and 
prevented an assemblage on the hill. The governor 
had surrendered the government and the castle to the 
people. No blood had been shed in the two days of 
anarchy, though Andros was taken to Fort Hill and 
who, with Mr, Dudley, Mr. Randolph the instigator of 
the rebellion — and other persons, was imprisoned 
through the summer and fall and then sent to England 
to be tried, but all escaped punishment. It was said 
that Andros first inspired the colonists to resist an 
oppressive and unjust government. 



April 18. 

The colonists having suffered many restrictions when 

it was rumored in Boston that William had ascended 

the throne, and that full liberties would be restored, 

there was a grand celebration on the Common. 



PROVINCIAL PERIOD 



1692 

A ISTew Charter changed the colony into the "Prov- 
ince of Massachusetts." The Common was now care- 
fully watched by the board of Selectmen, holes were 
filled and stagnant water drained. 



The cellar foundation of the house of Samuel Sewall 
was laid by stone and rocks taken from the Common. 



1693 August 27. 

Edward Rawson, Secretary of the Colony, died in 
Boston, and was buried in the Granary Burying 
Ground. 



1697 March 22. 

A Town ordinance prevented any person "riding to 
and fro" to water their horses, on the Common, on the 
"Sabbath Day." A fine, so incurred, would be five 
shillings. Mr. Daniel Eairfield was fully authorized 
to enforce this law. 



December 12. 

Eev. "Jon" Baily died, and was buried in the 

Granary Burying Ground. He came to Boston in 1692 



46 BOSTON COMMON 

and became pastor of the First Church a year after- 
ward, where he remained until he died at the age of 
fifty-three. "A faithful minister of the Gospel in 
Boston." 



Whittier's poem, "The Prophecy of Samuel Sewall- 
1697," contains the lines: 

"Stately and low, with thoughtful air. 
His black cap hiding his whitened hair, 
Walks the Judge of the great Assize, 
Samuel Sewall, the good and wise. 

When he sat on the bench at the witchcraft courts. 
With the laws of Moses and Hale's Keports; 
And spake, in the name of both, the word 
That gave the witches' neck to the cord." 



Whittier's poem also contains the lines: 

"Up and down the Village streets 
• ' Strange are the forms my fancy meets. 

The ancient worthies I see again. 

I hear the tap of the elder's cane. 

And his awful periwig I see. 

And the silver buckles of shoe and knee." 



1698 

The pasture adjoining Beacon Hill, owned by the 
widow of Samuel Shrimpton, was appraised at £150. 
This included the location of the State House and about 
two acres to the north. 



BOSTON" COMMON 47 

Close of the 17th Century. 
Two duels were fought on the Common. The first 
was between Peggy and Captain Cole, the other oc- 
curred several years ^afterward. The duellists were 
each fined £10. 



During the ravages of the small-pox the clothes of 
the victims were spread out on a place in the Common 
during the night, and many who had died of the dread 
disease were buried in the Common, or Granary Bury- 
ing Ground. 



The Common was always a playground for boys — 
wicket and flinging of the bullit was much enjoyed. 
Flinging the bullit was finally prohibited as dangerous 
to pedestrians who chanced to be passing. No games 
were allowed to be played on the Sabbath, and a fine of 
five shillings was imposed on the owner of any horse 
seen on the Common on that day. People were not 
even to stroll on the Common, during the warm 
weather, on Sunday. 



During the week the Common presented a gala sight 
by persons walking and riding with children at play. 



There was a landing on the shore where people 
crossed over from Cambridge. Sewall wrote : "Rode 
to commencement, had a pleasant passage home by water 
with Mr, Wendell and his family. Landed at the bot- 
tom on the Common. 



In a series of letters written in Boston, reviewing 
the early period in 1855 "Gleaner" says, "We have in- 



48 BOSTON COMMOl^ 

spected the hogs in Hog Alley (running out of Wash- 
ington Street) and the cows on the Common." 



Frog Lane, named from the croakers heard at night- 
fall, is now called Bojlston Street, but which is now 
proposed to call Squirrel Avenue. 



1700 January 2. 

"Sewall's Diary," says: — The beginning of the cen- 
tury "At break of day Jacob Amsden, and three other 
trumpeters, stood, near Mr, Alfords, and blew a loud 
blast on the Common. Then went to the Green Cham- 
ber, and sounded there till sunrise." 



The maps of Boston give some idea of the Common 
in its early days. 



1702 May 28. 

Proclamation of Queen Anne caused much talk on 
the Common. 



1703 April 26. 

George Ripley was appointed to the charge of water- 
ing the bulls and driving them into the burial place at 



night. 



May. 
A sentry box was built on the Common. 



1704 June. 

John Quelch and five companions, all pirates, were 
hung at low tide, on the 'Neck, at Charles Eiver. 



BOSTON COMMO]^ 49 

The Almshouse was repaired — by Mr. Thrasher, on 
the Common. 



1706 

Spinning became an industry for the inmates of the 
almshouse and workhouse. 



The Powder house — built this year — was watched by 
two men who, nightly, walked twice over the Common, 
special caution being taken on holidays. The powder 
was carried, in covered boats, across the river to the 
landing at the bottom of the Common. A watch house 
was also built on the adjoining hill. 



The South Burying Ground, that adjoined the 
Workhouse, on the Common where soldiers were mostly 
buried during the seige. 



1707 

Rev. Samuel Willard, — "the eminent divine," and 
pastor of the Old South Church, died, and was buried 
in the Granary Burying Ground. 



1708 May 3. 

A "Description of Boston" (1807) says, "Certain 
streets, lanes, and alleys, were recorded, boundaries and 
names: The upper part of Washington Street was 
called Orange Street, and is spoken of as "the broad 
street or highway from the old fortifications on the 
neck leading into the town, as far as the corner of the 
late Deacon Elliott's house." 



"The way leading easterly from said Elliott's corner, 



50 BOSTON COMMON 

by the late Deacon Allen's extending to Windmill pond 
— Essex Street." 



The way leading from Captain Frary's corner, west- 
ward to the bottom of the Common, with a turn south- 
erly down to the sea in Frog Lane (Boylston Street). 



"Hog Alley, from Newbury Street, westerly, to the 
Common." 



"Sea Street, from Ball's corner to Windmill point." 



"Beacon Street, from Mr. Whitcomb's corner through 
the upper side of the Common, and down to the sea." 



1Y09 

Paul Mascarene, who commanded a new artillery 
company, built small earth works at the foot of the 
Common and drilled his men in the various artillery 
movements. 



1712 

Trees were ordered planted along the burying ground. 



1713 April 21. 

The Selectmen for the sum of 40s allowed James 
Williams the grass of the burial ground and who was 
to be responsible for any damage done to the graves by 
the cows. 



May 20. 

A riot — says Sewall in his "Diary" — was caused "by 

two hundred people, or more, breaking open Arthur 



BOSTON COMMON 51 



Mason's warehouse in the Common thinking to find 



corn there." 



September 13. 
David Wallace was hung, on the Common, for 
murder. 



October 8. 
Permission was given to Thomas Bannister to build 
a barn, with a flat roof, on the beach at the low^er end 
of the Common. 



LIFE AND TIMES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

ly 

James Partojst, 

(1864) 

"An anecdote is preserved of Benjamin's minnow 
fishing days. There was a marsh in the outskirts of 
Boston, on the edge of which the boy and his friends 
used to fish at high tide for minnows. By much 
trampling the spot having been made a mere quagmire, 
Franklin proposed to construct a wharf for the boys 
to stand upon and pointed out a large heap of stones 
intended for a new house near by, which, he said, would 
answer their purpose perfectly. Accordingly, in the 
evening when the workmen were gone home, he assem- 
bled his playfellows, and very soon the wharf was com- 
pleted." pp. 39. 

"Franklin, upon the whole, spent a very happy boy- 
hood, and his heart yearned for Boston as long as he 
lived. When he was eighty-two years old, he spoke of 



52 BOSTON C0MM0:N 

it as ^that beloved place.' He said, in tlie same letter, 
that he would dearly like to ramble again over the 
scene of so many innocent pleasures ; and as that could 
not be, he had a singular pleasure in the company and 
conversation of its inhabitants. 'The Boston manner,' 
he touchingly added, 'the turn of phrase, and even the 
tone of voice and accent and pronunciation all please, 
and seem to revive and refresh me.' " 

"If Franklin could now revisit the scenes of his boy- 
hood, there is still there one object which he would 
recognize, besides the beautiful harbor and its emerald 
isles, the great elm on Boston Common was "The Great 
Elm" when Benjamin Franklin played under it in boy- 
hood, and drove home, at sunset, his father's cow from 
the Common around Beacon Hill." pp. 51. 



1715 May 21. 

The French Protestants who, after the revocation of 
the edict of l^antes, sought refuge in Boston, selected a 
place for interments in the Granary Burying Ground. 
Among their number laid to rest was a "beloved minis- 
ter" — Pierre Daille. The worn headstone was found 
by some laborers, excavating a cellar on Pleasant Street, 
nearly a century and a half afterwards. It bore the 
inscription : "Here lyes ye body of ye Reverend Mr. 
Peter Daille, Minister of ye French Church in Boston 
— Died the 21st of May, 1Y15, in the 6Yth year of his 
age." When he died all the clergy of the town without 
regard to sect, were given gloves and scarfs. 



June 4. 
Margaret Callahan was hung on the Common for 
murder. 



BOSTON COMMON^ 53 

Shrimpton owned Beacon Hill. Thompson owned 
land on the Common. 



1717 July 29. 

Permission was given to Patrick Ogilvie, of Boston, 
Marriner, to build a dwelling house, with a kitchen to 
adjoin, on the lower end of the Common. 



Tombs were allowed to be built in the Granary Bury- 
ing Ground. 



The straightening of the Mall separated it from the 
burying ground. 



1718 

An attempt was made by Colonel Dalrymple of the 
Fourteenth Royal Regulars, to obtain the Spinning 
School Building, on the site of the Scollay's Building, 
for "quarters." This was firmly resisted by the 
tenants headed by Elisha Brown. When the Sheriff 
and his officers came with a mandate from Governor 
Bernard they were compelled to gain entrance by the 
cellar where they were kept as prisoners until released 
by a file of soldiers from the Common. 



Some of the spinners wore garments of their own 
make showing their skill and industry. 



Captain Thomas Smart and John Boy dell fought a 
duel, on the Common, one forenoon, resulting in one 
being shot in the arm. The duellists were arrested, 
fined, and imprisoned for one day. 



54 BOSTON COMMON 

Northern Lights alarmed the inhabitants of the town 
and on the Common. 



1719 April 29. 

It was ordered that the South Burying Ground be 
enlarged next to the "Common and Training Field." 



May 15. 
The first Aurora Borealis ever seen in Boston was 
observed by many on the Common. 



1720 

Owing to the enlargement of the Workhouse on the 
Common, the Pound was removed from the burying 
ground near (Tremont Street) to the site of the Park 
Street Church. 



A children's spinning school was started on a 
neighborhood street. A number of Irish persons had 
come from Londonderry who showed great skill in the 
machine which was worked by the foot. Spinning 
wheels were brought into the Common and worked by 
the "females of the town" all vying with each other to 
attain the greatest speed. 



The Common was the cherished possession of Boston. 



1721 

The Bridewall on the Common was occasionally used 
for lunatics. 



1722 

The size of the "Old Elm" on the Common makes it 
appear that it existed before the settlement of Boston. 



BOSTON COMMON 55 

1723 August 23. 

The game of "throwing the long bullits" on the Com- 
mon was forbidden hy law and no person was permitted 
to dig sand, earth or stones at Fox Hill, or the Kidge 
between Fox and Windmill Hills. 



August 25. 
Aquitamong, an Indian, 112 years old, visited Boston 
and went to the Common. 



Some Indian delegates to Boston lived in an encamp- 
ment on the Common. The Boston News-Letter, says 
"Said delegates had an ox given to them on Friday last 
which they killed with Bow and Arrows, and in the 
evening a fire was made in the Common, and a Kettle 
hung over it, in which part of said Ox w^as boiled, where 
they danced after their own manner, in presence of 
some of our principal gentlemen and also some thou- 
sands of spectators." 



1724 August 1. 

The ascension of George I to the throne was cele- 
brated in Boston and on the Common. 



1726 June 12. 

William Fly, and his two companions, Samuel Cole 
and Henry Greenville were hung at Charlestown Ferry 
for piracy. Fly, the ring leader, was hung in irons at 
Nixs Mate where he was left dangling as a warning 
for spectators. The other two were buried in the 
gravel on the bank, at low tide. 



56 BOSTON COMMOE" 

1727 October 29. 

An earthquake, rocking the houses in town, was felt 
on the Common. 



Ezekial Lewis and James Williams were allowed the 
sum of 26s-8d, a third of the yearly rental of the South 
Burying Ground, as they had lost a part of their feed 
which was caused by a broken fence. 



The General Court passed laws prohibiting swimming 
or walking on the highways, fields, or the Common, 
under a penalty of being put in jail, "set in the stocks," 
etc. 



1728 July 3. 

The first duel in Boston was fought, on the Com- 
mon, between Henry Phillips and Benjamin Wood- 
bridge both belonging to prominent families. The 
young men, who were intimate friends, had quarrelled 
over a game of cards, or wine, at the Royal Exchange 
Tavern, a noted resort for those of sportive habits, in 
town, which resulted in a challenge. The parties, with 
their seconds, proceeded to a secluded spot (the site of 
the Powder House) where they met, in a deadly en- 
counter, under the moonlight, swords being used for 
weapons. Woodbridge was mortally wounded ! while 
Phillips, who, with a slight wound, was hurried away 
by his brother Gillam and Peter Faneuil aboard the 
man-o-war Sheerness and sailed for France where he 
died of grief at Rochelle within the year. Phillips was 
a Harvard graduate, aged 24. Woodbridge was buried 
in the Granary Burying Ground where a tablet is in- 
scribed: "In the 20th year of his age." He was a 
son of "Dudley Woodbridge, Esq." a Barbadoes mer- 



BOSTOI^ COMMO:^r 57 

chant and partner of Jonathan Sewall. The affair 
created much excitement. 



July. 
The Governors had experienced much diiSculty in 
getting their "small pittance" of a salary which they 
were allowed by the General Court. To meet this 
difficulty an act was signed for the issue of £50,000 in 
bills of credit. Governor Burnet was escorted into 
Boston with a large parade and much ceremony, and, 
impressed with the "plenty of this great province," 
urged the passage of the bill. This created much in- 
terest in the town and on the Common. 



The Granary, or meal house, Francis Willoughby, 
keeper, was a long wooden building capable of holding 
1200 bushels of grain which was sold, at a low price, to 
the poor who came from all parts of the town, and which 
continued until the end of the Revolution. The 
Granary and the Workhouse led to the Granary (for- 
merly the south) Burying Ground which- — on the out- 
skirts of the to^vn, opened on and was originally a part 
of the Common. It was named for the Old Granary, 
and, preceded by King's Chapel and Copps Hill, was the 
third cemetery of Boston. 



Two boys, George and ISTathan Howell, were drowned 
while skating on the "Back Bay," where the Public 
Garden now stands, a favorite skating locality. The 
sad accident created w^idespread regret. 



Trees were planted in front of the Granary Burying 
Ground forming a pathway called the "Little Mall." 
A row of elms was planted on the Common. 



58 BOSTON COMMON 

1730 Janijaey 1. 

Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, known as tlie "Witches 
Judge" and the author of the famous "Diary," died, 
and was buried in the Granary Burying Ground. "A 
very high character for learning, piety and humility; 
for justice, benevolence and compassion." 



1733 March. 

It was ordered that care should be taken of the trees 
on the Common and another row be planted and also 
that a row of posts be set uj) with a rail on top. 



1734 March. 

It was resolved that "the row of trees already 
planted on the Common, should be taken off by the 
Selectmen," who were also instructed to plant another 
row, and also to erect a row of posts, surmounted by a 
rail, to extend "through the Common from the Granary 
Burial Place to Colonel Fitche's fence, leaving open- 
ings at the several streets and lanes." Five years 
elapsed, however, before the fence separated the Granary 
Burying Ground from the Common, when, in 1739, a 
fence was set up from Common Street to Beacon. The 
fence, many times renewed stood until 1836 when it 
was replaced by an iron one at a cost of $82,159 and 
85 cents. The stone foundation cost $5,000— $16,292 
was raised by private contributions. Its length is 5932 
feet — or a mile and an eighth, and covers a circuit of 
48f acres. The Common contains 50 acres. 



A second row of elms was planted on the Common. 



1735 

John Alf ord sold to Thomas Hancock, "a lot near Bea- 



BOSTOIsT COMMO]^ 59 

con Hill, bounded, se. by the Common. Hancock paid 
£1,000 for this acre where the Hancock mansion was 
built. 



The Common received its first proper fence enclosure. 



1737 March. 

A committee, composed of several residents appointed 
by the farm, recommended Common Street where the 
Granary stood, as a location for a Workhouse. The 
Granary was to be removed to the corner of Tremont 
and Common Streets. 



The Common was separated from the Granary by a 
fence, running up the hill, which in two years was ex- 
tended to Beacon Street. 



Thirty loads of sand were permitted to be taken from 
Fox Hill to be used in the erection of the Workhouse 
which stood partly on the locality of the Granary which 
was moved farther down the Hill. 



Many persons from Roxbury and Cambridge landed 
on the wharf, at the foot of the Common, where many 
dug sand and obtained stones with which to build. 



The neighboring land, owned by Mr. Foster, was 
subsequently added to the Common. 



A stone house, the first built on Beacon Hill was the 
home of Thomas Hancock, a wealthy Boston merchant 
and an uncle of General Hancock. It stood a little 
below the summit. 



60 BOSTON" COMMON 

The old stone Hancock mansion, on Beacon Street, 
opposite the Common, was demolished. 



1738 

The Workhouse, for the vagrant and dissolute was 
140 feet longer than the Almshouse. 



1739 

It was ordered to "set a row of posts and rails, from 
Common Street up to Beacon Street, to prevent carts, 
etc., from spoiling the herbage of the Common. 



The ground near the Winter Street entrance was 
raised to prevent water running over the Common from 
Beacon Hill. 



A declaration of war with the West Indies led to 
troops being formed throughout the Province. The 
Boston Militia drilled on the Common in the presence 
of many townspeople. 



1740 Septembee. 

Rev. George Whitefield — assistant to John Wesley in 
England — visited Boston where "the Common people 
heard him gladly." He said the town was "remarkable 
for the external observance of the Sabbath — men in 
civil offices have a regard for religion. The Governor 
(Belcher) encourages them; and the ministers and 
magistrates seem to be more united than those in any 
other place where I have been. I never saw so little 
scoffing, never had so little opposition." 

During the "Great Awakening" the Puritan Clergy 
had invited Whitefield to come and arouse the town 
which they thought was then in a state of lethargy. The 



BOSTON COMMON 61 

Old South Church could not accommodate the crowds 
that flocked to hear the great preacher, then in his 26th 
year. People climbed upon the windows while others 
walked about the streets, so it was decided to hold 
services on the Common where both on Sundays, and 
week days vast assemblages gathered numbering from 
four to six thousand and over 20,000 at the farewell ser- 
mon. As the population of Boston was then 18,000 
many evidently came from the neighboring towns. Of 
Whitefield's work in Boston one clergyman said that 
never "except at the time of the general earthquake" 
had the people been "so happily concerned about their 
souls." Another said that even "negroes and boys left 
their rudeness." Franklin, in his "autobiography" 
says; "I perceived that he intended to finish with a 
collection, and I silently resolved he should get nothing 
from me. I had in my pocket a handful of copper 
money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in 
gold. As he proceeded I began to soften, and I con- 
cluded to give the coppers. Another stroke of his 
oratory made me ashamed of that, and determined me 
to give the silver; and he finished so admirably, that 
I emptied my pocket wholly into the collection dish, 
gold and all." A lady who listened to one of White- 
field's sermons delivered on the Common at sunrise, 
said, that after he had given the words of his text, "If 
I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utter- 
most parts of the sea," his voice was like that of an 
angel when he uttered them, while his arms rose slowly 
from his sides with an indescribable grace. I should 
have felt no surprise to see him ascend into the air. 
That would have been no miracle. The miracle was 
rather that he remained on earth." He possessed 
marvelous power as a preacher and has probably, never 



62 BOSTON COMMON 

been equalled in drawing those "eager to go fortli to 
hear him." He preached twice a day. 

A negro, on the outskirts of the Common during one 
of the services, mistook a man for Whitefield, and fall- 
ing down and rolling over on the ground, exclaimed 
"Oh, Massa Whitefield! Massa Whitefield!" The 
man told the negro of his mistake, when, suddenly ris- 
ing to his feet again, he said, "Oh, den I'se gone dirtied 
myself all for nothin' !" 



September 18-25. 
Some idea of the crowds that flocked to hear White- 
field may be gleaned from the following account in the 
Boston Weehly News-Letter, "Last Monday in the 
Afternoon, the Rev'd Mr. Whitefield intending to 
preach in the Rev'd Mr. Checkley's Meeting House 
(the 'New South) at the South part of the town, just 
before the time when the Service was to begin, some 
I^Toise happened by the Breaking of a Piece of Board 
in one of the Gallery s (used) by some to make a seat 
of it ; it was given out by some impudent Person, that 
the Gallerys gave way, (tho' there was no Danger 
thereof), the House being prodigiously crowded, the 
whole Congregation was put to the utmost confusion 
and Disorder, so that being in the greatest Concern 
how to save their Lives, some jumped off the Gallery 
in the Seats below, others out of the windows and those 
below pressing to get out of the Porch Doors in haste, 
several were thereby thrown down one over another, 
and trod upon by those that were crowding out, whereby 
many were exceedingly bruised and others their Bones 
broke. But what is most sorrowful, two married 
women in town, viz. : Mrs. Storey and Mrs, Ingersole, 
and a Servant lad were so crushed that they dyed a few 



BOSTO:^r COMMOTE 63 

miimtes after; and on Tuesday Mrs. Shepard a widow 
of good repute in town, and Mrs. Ruggles a married 
woman died also of the Bruises they received by the 
Crowd, and some others we hear are so much hurt, that 
'tis to be feared they cannot recover." 

October 9-16. 
The Boston Weehly News-Letter, in "A Practical 
Account of the several Collections made for the Orphan 
House in Georgia" says of one collection, on the Com- 
mon, that the sum amounted to £200 15s. 6d. The 
total collections during Whitefield's stay were over 
£2800. 



1742 

John Davenport, "a wonderful to search out hyp- 
ocrites" preached to great multitudes on the Common. 
Many of his assertions, however, gave offense causing 
retractions. 



Another duel was fought by two negroes — Csesar and 
Tom — on the Common, both were arrested and tried. 



1743 March 3. 

Peter Paneuil died, and was buried with great honor, 
in the Granary Burying Ground. The "cradle of 
liberty," where his portrait hangs on the wall, ever 
recalls his name, public spiritedness and generosity. 



April. 
Fox Hill not to be dug any more. 



1744 

Whitefield again visited Boston when he was met at 
Long Wharf by Dr. Chauncy, who, disliking him, said. 



64 BOSTON COMMON 

"Mr. Whitefield, I am sorry to see you come back 
again!" When Mr. Whitefield replied: "So is the 
Devil !" He preached on the Common. 



A seminary stood at the side of Beacon Hill. 



Josiah Franklin was buried in the Granary Burying 
Ground. 



1745 July 3. 

The News of the surrender of Louisbourg caused 
great rejoicings in Boston and the event was marked 
by a handsome bonfire for the "less polite" and where 
good liquor was drank, probably on Beacon Hill. 



July 8. 
The Boston Evening Post, says: "As Captain Ben- 
nett arrived in the Night, he first carried the General 
and Commodores dispatches to his Excellency, then at 
Dorchester, and on his return communicated the joyful 
tidings to the Hon. Colonel Wendell's Company of 
Militia, then on Duty as a military Watch, who (not 
able longer to conceal their joy) about 4 o'clock, 
alarm'd the town, by firing their Guns and beating their 
Drums, and before fire, all the Bells in the Tovsm began 
to ring, and continued ringing most part of the Day. 
The Inhabitants thus agreeably surprised laid aside all 
thoughts of Business, and each one seemed to strive to 
out-do his Neighbor in Expressions of Joy. Many per- 
sons who were gone to Cambridge to be present at the 
Commencement, came to Town to rejoice with us, as 
did many others from the Country, and the Day was 
spent in firing of Cannon, feastings, and drinking of 
Healths, and in preparing Eire works, etc., against the 



BOSTOIvT COMMON" 65 

Evening. And to add to tlie Pleasures of the Day, 
Colonel Pollard and his Company of Cadets were under 
Arms, and made a very tine Appearance. 'Now the 
Churl and Niggard became generous, and even the Poor 
forget their Poverty, and in the Evening the whole 
Town appeared as it were in a Blaze, almost every 
House being finely illuminated. In some of the prin- 
cipal streets were a great variety of Fireworks and 
curious Devices for the Entertainment of the almost 
numberless Spectators, and in the Fields were several 
Bonfires for the diversion of the less Polite, besides a 
large one in the Common, where was a Tent erected, 
and plenty of good liquor for all that w^ould drink. In 
a Word, never before, upon any occasion, was observed 
so universal and unaffected a Joy, nor was there ever 
seen so many Persons of both Sexes at the Time walk- 
ing about, as appeared that Evening, the Streets being 
as light as Day, and the weather extremely pleasant. 
And what is very remarkable, no ill Accident happened 
to any Person, nor was there any of those Disorders 
committed, which are too common (on) such Occa- 
sions." 



An Englishman — Joseph Bennett — visited Boston 
and wrote of the Mall, on the northwest side of the 
Common, where the ladies "visit, drink tea and indulge 
every piece of gentility to the height of the mode, and 
neglect the affairs of their families with as good a grace 
as the first ladies in London." 



1T46 

Apprehensions of trouble with the Mother Country, 
arising out of home matters, led the colonists to form 
troops which were drilled on the Common. 



66 BOSTOI^ COMMOE" 

The fall of the Fortress at Loiiisbourg had spread a 
general alarm throughout the Province that a fleet, 
under Duke D'Anville, was on the ocean and would 
attack Boston when aid was summoned from the neigh- 
boring to^vns. Douglass wrote, in his "Memoirs of the 
War" that "6400 men from the Country, well armed, 
appeared in Boston Common, some of them, from 
Brookfield, travelled seventy miles in two days, each 
with a pack (in which was provision for fourteen days) 
of about a bushel of corn weight. The fleet scattered 
in a tempest and no attack was made. 



All parts of the Common were improved for a play- 
ground. 



1747 ISTOVEMBER. 

A British squadron, off the coast, created much talk 
while Commodore Knowles, lying in Boston harbor, 
seized several inhabitants to fill his quota. An infuri- 
ated mob, in retaliation, now seized several officers of 
the squadron who were on shore, and, passing the Com- 
mon, surrounded the Town House, demanding the Gen- 
eral Court to obtain redress. The militia were called 
out, but did not obey the summons immediately, so 
Governor Shirley fled to the Castle. The House of 
Bepresentatives, standing by the Governor "with their 
lives and fortunes," ordered the release of the officers, 
while Commodore Knowles discharged most of the men 
that were seized and sailed away with his squadron. A 
town meeting was held in Boston when it was declared 
that the riot had been caused by "negroes and persons 
of vile condition." 



BOSTOI^ COMMO]^ 67 

1^49 July 3. 

The Independent Advertiser, says: "A pasture, at 

the bottom of the Common, took fire and spread 

over an acre of ground in a quarter of an hour ; the peo- 
ple were obliged to pull down the fences to prevent their 
being burnt, having took fire," 



1750 May 15. 

It was discussed at a town meeting to remove the 
Powder House from the Common, when it was decided 
that "the town will do nothing concerning it." 



Among the leading Boston families were the Prices, 
Chardon's, Wendell's, and Oliver's all noted by their 
distinction, title, blood, escutcheon and family, l^ason 
says : "Those gentlemen and ladies who occupied the 
!N^orth, or Court end, of the Town, who read the 
Spectator, Samuel Richardson's parmela and the Prayer 
Book, who had manors of a thousand acres, in the coun- 
try, cultivated by slaves from Africa — ^were many of 
them allied to the first families in England, and it was 
their chief ambition to keep up the ceremonies and cus- 
toms of the aristocratic society which they represented. 
In those dignitaries, — who in brocaded vest, gold lace 
coat, broad ruffled sleeves and small clothes, with 
three cornered hat, and powdered wig, side arms and 
silver shoe buckles, promenaded Queen Street and the 
Mall, adjoining the Common, spread themselves through 
the Kings Chapel, or discovered the measures of the 
Pelham's, Walpole and Pitt at the Rose and Crown, — 
as much of aristocratic pride, as much of courtly con- 
sequence displayed itself as in the frequenters of Hyde 
Park or Regent Street. 



68 BOSTON COMMON 

In Boston it is said at this period, several families 
kept a coach and horses, a few drove four horses, 
and more kept chaises and saddle horses — pro rata 
— than in London. The roads were kept in good 
condition in summer though there were no turn-pikes, 
and that travelling was as safe at night as in the day. 
Highway robbers were unknown. The drives were 
pleasant on the Common or through the woods and past 
prosperous farms, houses, cottages, and gentlemen's 
manors between the towns. Ladies, accompanied by a 
negro servant, were generally seen driving in a chaise, 
or chairs, drawn by a single horse. Gentlemen, also 
with servant, drove out — English fashion, in chairs, and 
on horseback. The mode of travel was the same for 
business as for pleasure — in black equipages. 

Every afternoon, after tea, gentlemen and ladies 
were seen walking on the Mall, and would then go to 
one another's house to pass the evening. 

During the winter season carriages discarded the 
wheels and were driven on runners, when balls jingled 
from the horses heads, and singing, cheerfulness and 
mirth made an animated scene on a winter's day, when 
open sledges, with twenty persons, drove across the 
Common, or about the country. 



1751 Mat 17. 

A young negro was hung, on the Common, for 
murder. 



1752 

John Yeamans sold to Thomas Hancock two acres of 
land near Beacon Hill. 



The Common did not include all of Beacon Hill. 



BOSTON COMMOI^ 69 

Abiah Franklin — wife of Josiah — was buried in the 
Granary Burying Ground. 



1753 August 13. 

The Fourth Anniversary of an industrial society was 
celebrated of which the Boston Evening Post gives the 
following: "Wednesday last being the Meeting of the 
Society for encouraging Industry and employing the 
Poor, the Rev. Mr. Cooper of this Town, preached an 
excellent Sermon before them, and a vast Assembly of 
other Persons, of all Ranks and Denominations, in the 
Old South Meeting House, from those Words in I 
Corinthians, 13.5. Charity seeheth not her own. 
After sermon £453 old Tenor, was collected (besides 
the Subscription Money of the Society) for the further 
promoting of laudable undertaking. In the Afternoon, 
about 300 Spinners, all neatly dressed, and many of 
'em Daughters of the best Families in Town, appeared 
on the Common and being placed orderly in three Rows, 
at Work, made a most delightful Appearance. The 
Weavers also, (cleanly dressed in Garments of their 
own weaving) with a Loom, and a young Man at Work, 
on a Stage prepared for that Purpose, carried on Men's 
Shoulders, attended by Musick, preceded the Society, 
and a long Train of other Gentlemen of Note, both of 
Town and Country, as they walked in Procession to 
view the Spinners ; and the Spectators were so nu- 
merous, that they were compared by many, to one of 
Mr. WTiitefield's Auditories, when he formerly preached 
here on the Common." 

The "Spinning craze" was soon over. 



1754 I^OVEMBER 19. 

William Wier was hung, on the Common, for murder. 



70 BOSTON COMMOIT 

The Common Burial Ground was purchased by Mr. 
Andrew Oliver. 



1T55 ]!^OVEMBER 18. 

An earthquake which threw down the vane on 

Faneuil Hall and demolished ten chimneys was felt 
on the Common. 



1756 June 2. 

Some sextons were ordered to remove some poisonous 
weeds in the burying ground near the Almshouse. 



The Common Burying Ground was started. It was 
known at various times as the South and Central 
Ground. Tradition asserts that it was first used for 
negro burials, though it is well known that British, who 
died of disease, were buried there, and also soldiers 
who died of wOunds received at the Battle of Bunker 
Hill, who were buried in a trench, many of whom were 
exhumed in the sub-excavations in the northwest corner 
of the yard. 



The Granary Burying Ground having become 
crowded, bodies being sometimes buried four deep — 
and neglected, the authorities purchased a portion of 
Colonel Fitche's pasture at the foot of the Common. 
This was the South Burying Ground and afterwards 
known as the Common and Central Ground. Burials 
were frequently made, however, in the Granary. 



The Ropewalks, on the Common, were used as stables, 
by the British, and the Old South Church as a riding 
school. 



BOSTO]^ COMMO]^ 71 

1759 

The town added the portion occupied by the Central 
Burying Ground to the Common. 



1758 May 17. 

The Selectmen gave John Ramstead the herbage of 
the burying ground, for one year, for £3, 6s. 8d. 



Monday, September 18. 
At the close of the "Old French War" about 4500 
men commanded by General Jeffry Amherst, pitched 
tents on the Common. The Boston Evening Post, says : 
"Between 30 and 40 transports which came up under 
Convoy of the Captain (of the) Man of War are also 
arrived, having on board the 2nd Battalion of Royal 
Scots, General Forbes, Lascelle's and Webb's Regiments, 
and also Frazer's Highlanders. They arrived here in 
good Health, and were encamped on the Common ; and 
on Saturday Morning they decamped and proceeded on 
the March for Lake George. 



October 22. 

Rev. Thomas Prince, pastor of the Old South Church, 

died, and was buried in the Granary Burying Ground. 



1759 

The troops that conquered Quebec were recruited by 



Amherst, on the Common. 



1760 December 25. 

News of the death of George II caused much regret 
in Boston and on the Common. 



72 BOSTON COMMON 

1761 October 10. 

Governor Dummer died in Boston, aged eightj-two 
years, and was buried in the Granary Burying Ground. 
"He preserved an unspotted character through life." 



1765 August 13. 

A body of citizens, organizing as the "Sons of 
Liberty," met under the branches of a tree which they 
named Liberty Tree. 

The Liberty Tree stood at the corner of (the present) 
Washington and Essex Streets. 



August 13. 
An effigy of Mr. Oliver, who distributed stamps in 
Boston, was hung, from the Liberty Tree, with Satan, 
holding a scroll in his claw, peering from a boat, decry- 
ing Lord Bute who advocated the "stamp act" in Parlia- 
ment. 



November 1. 
The Stamp Act to go into effect. The bells were 
tolled, Minute guns fired and flags hung at half-mast 
from the vessels that lay anchored in the harbor. Chil- 
dren, passing along the Common shouted the familiar, 
motto, "Liberty, Property, No Stamps." 



The Gun House was built on the Common. 



Two rival parties in Boston, who, in celebrating, 
marched through the streets, and to gain possession of 
the trophies, would end the day in a fight near Mill 
Creek where they broke ranks. These encounters fre- 
quently resulted in bloody noses and broken bones. If 
the South gained, the trophies were taken to the Com- 



BOSTOiq" COMMON" 73 

mon. If the victorj fell to the ISTorth, to Copp's Hill, 
where they were burned. 



1766. Febeuaky 14. 

The Liberty Tree on Essex Street was pruned. 



Apeil 21. 
Two fire engines went to guard the Power House on 
the Common. 



May 16. 
The news of the "Kepeal of the Stamp Act" by Parlia- 
ment, caused universal acclamation. At a meeting in 
Faneuil Hall, the 19th was appointed for public rejoic- 
ing. The day was ushered in by the ringing of bells 
and the roar of cannon. Flags waved from the houses 
and the shipping in the harbor with martial music. 
Captain Paddock's Artillery fired a salute, amid great 
hurrahs, on the Common. Across the w^ay the residence 
of Mr. Hancock — where a grand entertainment was 
going on — was lighted up, (and) shone through the 
trees. A pipe of Madeira was given to outsiders. A 
pyramid, on the Common, lighted by 280 lamps, dis- 
played patriotic paintings, and a grand exhibition of 
fireworks closed the evening. Illuminations shone and 
bonfires blazed in all parts of the town. 



May 19. 

The Repeal of the StamjD Act passed in 1765 caused 
a grand celebration on the Common. The Bostofi Post 
Boy, of the 26th, says: "Friday se — tonight to the 
Inexpressible Joy of all we received, by Captain Coffin, 
the important News of the Repeal of the Stamp Act 
which was signed by His Majesty on the 18th of March 



74: BOSTON COMMON 

last. In the Evening the whole Town was beautifully 
illuminated. On the Common the Sons of Liberty 
erected a magnificent Pyramid illuminated with 28 
Lamps ; the four upper stories of which were ornamented 
with Figures of their Majesties, and fourteen of the 
worthy Patriots who have distinguished themselves in 
their Love of Liberty. On the Top of the Pyramid was 
fixed a round Box of Fireworks horizontally. About 100 
yards from the Pyramid the Sons of Liberty erected a 
Stage for the Exhibition of their Fireworks, near the 
Work House, in the lower Room of which they enter- 
tained the Gentlemen of the Tot\ti. John Hancock, 
Esq., who gave a grand and elegant Entertainment to 
the genteel Part of the Town, and treated the Populace 
with a Pipe of Madeira Wine, erected at the Front of 
his House, which was magnificently illuminated, a 
Stage for the Exhibition of his Fireworks, which was 
to answer those of the Sons of Liberty. At Dusk the 
Scene opened by the Discharge of twelve Rockets from 
each Stage, after which the Figures on the Pyramid 
were uncovered, making a beautiful Appearance. To 
give a description of the great beauty of Fireworks 
exhibited from this Time till Eleven o'clock would be 
endless — the Air was filled with Rockets — the Ground 
with Bee-hives and Serpents — and the two Stages with 

Wheels of Fireworks of various sorts At Eleven 

o'clock the signal being given by a Discharge of 21 
Rockets, the horizontal Wheel on the Top of the 
Pyramid or Obelisk was played off, ending in the Dis- 
charge of sixteen Dozen of Serpents in the Air, which 
concluded the Show The Pyramid, which was de- 
signed to be placed under the Tree of Liberty, as a 
standing Monument of this glorious Aera, by accident 
took Fire about One o'clock, and was consumed." 



BOSTOis" COMMON Y5 

May 19. 

One of the Features of the celebration of the Repeal 
of the Stamp Act was an Obelisk, with allegorical 
figures ; — one rej)resenting "American in Distress"- — all 
lighted bj 280 lamps, being erected on the Common. 
It was burned in the celebration. 

May 19. 

John Rowe, a Boston merchant, in expressing the joy 
on the Repeal of the Stamp Act, writes in his ''diary" 
— "Mr. Hancock behaved very well on this occasion & 
treated every Person with Cheerfulness. I contributed 
as much to General joy as Any Person. The whole was 
much admired & the day Crowned with Glory & 
honour." 

May 20. 

The Liberty Tree was lighted with 108 lanterns at 
night, 45 shone the previous evening, showing the 
majority that repealed the act. 



John G. Hales, "Surveyor and Typographer" printed 
a "Survey of Boston and its vicinity" which contains a 
Table showing the rate, per hour, a person is moving by 
the time taken to pass the long Mall from the fence on 
Park Street to the fence on Boylston Street, "Passing 
through the Mall," as shown by the first twenty entries, 
was done in 19 minutes, 8-86 seconds. And a score 
ten miles an hour is found when the Mall is walked in 
1 minute, 54.85 seconds. 



The 29th Regiment encamped on the Common. 



1767 October 25. 

The eighth anniversary of the reign of King George, 

12 o'clock, a Royal salute was fired from the Castle 



76 BOSTO:tT COMMOI^r 

which was followed by three volleys from the Regiment 
drawn npon the Common. 



November 20. 
'New revenue laws went into effect. A hand bill was 
posted under the Liberty Tree when Bernard wrote: 
"Under the tree was stuck up a paper so highly seditious, 
that it would be undoubtedly deemed in England an 
overt act of high treason. It contained an exhortation 
to the Sons of Liberty to rise on that day, and fight for 
their rights ; stating ''that if they assembled, they would 
be joined by legions; that, if they neglected this oppor- 
tunity, they would be cursed by all posterity." 



A hospital, not intended for infectious diseases, was 
established near the foot of the Common. 



1768 March 18. 

Effigies of Commissioner Paxton and Inspector 
Williams were suspended from Liberty Tree. A fes- 
tive company met at the British Coffee House where a 
toast drank was "The Boston Gazette." The town was 
quiet though, it was said, that, the British Commis- 
sioners would be obliged "to resign their commissions" 
under Liberty Tree. 



June 4. 
The birthday of George III was celebrated, for the 
last time in Boston, when many went to the Common. 



June 10. 
The Liberty — a sloop of war — owned by John Han- 
cock, lay loaded with wine at Hancock's wharf at night. 
The wine was taken out without any entry at the Cus- 



BOSTON COMMOIT 77 

torn House. It was resolved to seize the sloop ! the 
seizure was made just at an hour when the working 
classes were returning home, so a large crowd gathered 
on the wharf. The sloop was removed down under the 
guns of the Romney, but the mob, which had now 
grown to immense proportions, and who not understand- 
ing all the circumstances, became furious ; stones and 
missiles were thrown at the Collector Joseph Harrison 
and the Comptroller Benjamin Hallowell. One of the 
inspectors was beaten by clubs and sticks and had his 
sword broken, Richard Aclom Harrison, a son of the 
Collector — who accompanied his father, was thrown 
down, dragged by the hair, and otherwise badly bruised, 
Vv'hile the Collector's elegant pleasure boat was dragged 
to the Common and burned. 



June 10. 

Bernard says : that "the riot was followed by papers, 

stuck upon Liberty Tree, containing an invitation to 

rise, and clear the country of the Commissioners and 

their officers. 



June 14. 

A town meeting, to restore order, was called under 
Liberty Tree. A flag waved from the tree. 

July 8. 

A schooner, loaded with molasses, lying at the wharf 
at night, was seized for violating customs laws, and was 
held by two officers when thirty men went aboard, and, 
placing the officers in the cabin carted off the cargo 
which was restored by the Selectmen. Governor Ber- 
nard now wrote: "So we are not without a govern- 
ment, only it is in the hands of the people of the Town, 
and not of those deputed by the King, or under his 



78 BOSTOISr COMMOIT 

authority." Tlie affair of the "Liberty" with the Eiot 
had now been heard of by the Ministry who ordered 
two Regiments to sail from Ireland to Boston and also 
troops from Halifax. Apprehensions were felt that the 
arrival of the troops might cause trouble, so that at a 
Town Convention held September 15th it was requested 
that the inhabitants should "provide themselves with 
firearms, that they may be prepared in case of sudden 
danger." A Fast Day was also appointed though but 
few were aware of the alarm that pervaded the minds 
of the people. It was rumored abroad that 10,000 armed 
men would resist the arrival of the English soldiers. 
Groups assembled on the Common. 



September 10. 
A tar barrel, intended to be fired in case any British 
troops arrived in town, was placed in the skillet of the 
Beacon. This was thought to be an insult to the Gov- 
ernor (Bernard) so it was stealthily taken down. 



September 30. 
Twelve vessels, entered the harbor and anchored in 
the IvT. E. part of the Town, and the next day the troops 
landed on Long Wharf, and "with drums beating and 
fifes playing" marched into King Street and thence to 
the Common where the 29th Regiment was encamped, 
the 14th Regiment finding shelter in Eaneuil Hall, 
other troops occupying the State House, which was con- 
sidered an insult to the Town and the Colony. A 
picture by Paul Revere copied from "Edes and Gills, 
North American Almanack and Massachusetts Register 
for the year 1770" clearly represents the "Prospective 
View of the Town of Boston, the Capitol of l^ew Eng- 
land ; and the Landing of the Troops, in the year 1768." 



BOSTON COMMOI^r Y9 

October 1. 
A threat had long been made to overawe the inhab- 
itants when a British fleet anchored in the harbor hav- 
ing on board the 14th and 29th Eegiments, a portion of 
the 59th with a train of artillery, all under command 
of Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple, landing at Long 
Wharf proceeded along King Street and to the Common. 
A profoimd silence existed among the "Sons of Liber- 
ty." As Governor Bernard had gone to Jamaica Plain 
the soldiers returned to the fleet. 



October 29. 

The 29th Eegiment left the Common finding new 

quarters in the house of Mayor Glreen, a distiller, in 

Green's Lane, and in the house of Mr. Forrest in New 

Boston. 



October 31. 
Richard Ames, a deserter, was shot, on the Common, 
and buried on the same spot. The affair was thought 
to be one of unjust severity, it not being a time of war, 
and some ladies, prominent in the Town, tried, though 
vainly, to secure his pardon from the commanding- 
general. 



November 10. 
The News-Letter says : "Several transports arrived 
here this morning, from Cork, having on board part of 
the 64th and 65th Regiments, the remainder are not yet 
in." These troops were quartered in the Castle on the 
Common. Boston had now changed into a garrisoned 
town. The Common was covered with white tents. 



The Beacon Light fell by some unknown cause. 



80 BOSTO^T COMMON" 

A gate near the Granary was closed "except for the 
carrying in, or bringing out, powder for the magazine." 



Paul Revere's engraving shows buildings along the 
shore but none on Beacon Hill. 



Adams, Warren and Hancock, whose portraits hang 
in Faneuil Hall, were seen walking on the Common. 



1769. March 13. 

A committee was appointed by the Selectmen, "to 
consider what measures may be proper to be taken for 
the preservation of the Common, and preventing any 
incumbrances being laid thereon, to inquire into the 
title of the lands" and to report, "as soon as may be." 
This movement was, probably, suggested by the late 
occupation of the Common by the soldiering. It was 
also voted "not to rent the land, on which the gun house 
is erected, to the officers of the train of Artillery of the 
Regiment of the Town," while among the reported 
grievances was horse racing on the Common by members 
of the army. 



July 17. 
The Boston Gazette advertises a small Red Cow 

"strayed away from the Common Whosoever hath 

or shall stop said Cow, are desired to inform the 
Printers hereof, and they shall be Rewarded for their 
Trouble." 



July 31. 

Governor Bernard sailed from Boston to return to 

England. Salutes were fired from Hancock's AVharf 



BOSTO]^ COMMON 81 

and a flag waved from Liberty Tree. Bonfires shone 
on the hills at night. 



Sheriff Greenleaf was ordered, by the Court, to 
"cause a new gallows to be erected on the ISTeck, the old 
one having gone to decay." 

A Regimental Hospital was established at the foot 
of the Common. 



A hospital at the foot of the Common, took fire and 
was partially destroyed. 



1770 January 13. 

The Boston Massacre arose from a riot caused by the 
British soldiers being hooted by men and boys who had 
the sympathies of the inhabitants. A number of fights 
occurred with straggling soldiers when finally a picket 
guard, composed of eight men, were unable to bear 
further insults. A brawl broke out in an alley when 
some Brattle Street soldiers rushed into King Street, 
and, brandishing their arms, yelled, "Where are the 
cowards ! Where are the scoundrels !" and fired into a 
crowd killing three and badly wounding five persons. 
The "Old Brick Church" bell rung and the town was 
thrown into great excitement as the inhabitants rushed 
out, armed with sticks and stones taken from the mar- 
ket, filling the streets at midnight. A cry of fire was 
raised when some engines rushed to the scene. "The 
soldiers are rising," was the cry, and only by great pre- 
cautions was a general outbreak averted. The next 
morning a meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, and, in 
the afternoon, citizens again met in the "Old South 
Meeting house, — the largest building in the town — 



82 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

Mullen it was resolved "that nothing could be expected 
to restore peace, and prevent blood and carnage, but the 
immediate removal of the troops." ISTot a soldier was 
ever again seen outside of the Common, or barracks, 
on the streets after dark. Mr. Adams, said a "Motley 
mob of saucy boys, negroes and mulattoes, Irish teagues, 
and outlandish Jack-tars." The funeral of the victims 
of the "Boston Massacre" was attended bv a vast con- 
course of people, amid great pomp and ceremony, at the 
Granary Burying Ground. 



February 22. 
The arrival of tea vessels in Boston Harbor created a 
widespread indignation and one of the results was the 
sad shooting of a German boy named Snyder, eleven 
years old. A pole, with a figure on the head, was erected 
near the store of a man named Lilly, wdiich had drawn 
a crowd of boys at night. A man named Richardson, 
a custom symjDathizer, who had failed to remove the 
pole, was hooted by the boys, and who, ran into the 
house and fired a shot into the crowd fatally wounding 
Snyder. The Boston Gazette, says, "The untimely 
death of this amiable youth will be a standing monu- 
ment to posterity, that the time was when innocence 
itself was not safe." The body of young Snyder was 
placed under the Liberty Tree — on the Common — and 
seen by great crowds, when it was followed by four, or 
five hundred school boys, marching in couples to the 
grave. 



March 5. 

The arrival of the British troops in Boston gave rise 

to much excitement. At nine o'clock in the evening 

fire bells called the people together in King Street. 



BOSTOI^ COMMON" 83 

Captain Preston, who commanded the main guard, was 
''told that it was a plan of the people to massacre the 
soldiers and that a tar-barrel was to be fired on Beacon 
Hill to bring in the j^eople from the country." Ko 
bloodshed ensued, 

Maech 8. 

The funeral of the four victims of the Boston Mas- 
sacre — Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Crispus Attucks, 
and Samuel JMaverick — took place. A long train of 
carriages was followed by prominent citizens while the 
bells tolled in Boston, and the adjoining towns, as the 
procession proceeded to the Granary Burying Ground. 

Maech 14. 

Another victim of the Massacre — Patrick Carr, who 
was shot, was buried from Faneuil Hall and laid in the 
vault with the other victims in the middle of the 
Granary Burying Ground. 



Last Wednesday iisr May. 
The annual election of the King's Council, by the 
General Court, took place at Cambridge when the elec- 
tion sermon was preached by Rev. Samuel Cooke. The 
"Friends of the liberties of ISTorth America" caused 
great crowds to gather on the streets of Boston and on 
the Common. Rev. Dr. Chauncy preached from the 
text : "Our fathers trusted in thee ; they trusted, and 
thou didst deliver them." There was also "an elegant 
Entertainment" at Paneuil Hall, where between five 
and six hundred gentlemen assembled and which, it was 
said, was "attended with that cheerfulness, Decency and 
good Order Peculiar to the Favorites of Freedom and 
Science." The Boston Gazette and Country Journal, 
Monday, June 4th, says, "The Morning was ushered in 
with Musick, parading the streets, and an Ox which on 



84 BOSTON COMMOIT 

the afternoon before was conveyed thro' the Town dec- 
orated with Ribbons, Flowers, etc. was early put to the 
Fire at the Bottom of the Common ; the Novelty of an 
Ox roasting whole, excited the Curiosity of the People, 
and incredible ]*^umbers from this and the neighboring 
Towns resorted to the Spot, to view so unusual a Spec- 
tacle." 



Two Malls ; the Great Mall and the Little Mall — the 
former bordering the east side of the Common and the 
latter the east side of the Granary Burying Ground. 
Colonel Paddock had planted English elms on the Little 
Mall. The Great Mall was grown with elms and but- 
ton woods for half a century. 



Sunrise and sunset guns were fired from Beacon Hill. 



17Y1 

The title of the Common was carefully searched when 
a Committee of Selectmen was appointed to "inclose 
the Common asTeeable to order of the Town." 



John Hancock, a public spirited Townsman, had a 
stand erected where a band gave concerts each pleasant 
afternoon. 



The Common, the popular resort, was beautified by 
more Trees with Walks and Z'\Ialls. 



1772 May. 

Criminals, with ropes around their necks, sit on the 



gallows on the ISTeck. 



BOSTON COMMON 85 

June. 
From a Newspaper — "A young man of about twenty 
years of age, from the country, mounted on a stage, in 
the Common, and preached from the words, "If the 
righteous scarcely are saved, where shall the ungodly 
and sinner appear!" The audience which consisted of 
about twenty persons when the service began had in- 
creased to several thousand at the close. 



1773 January. 

Independence began to be talked of in Boston and on 
the Common. 



October 21. 
Lewis Ames was hung, on the Common, for robbery. 



ISTOVEMBER 3. 

A hand bill, posted around, called the Freemen of 
Boston, and the neighboring towns, to assemble at Lib- 
erty Tree to witness the resignations and the oath of 
allegiance of the consignees who avowed to reship any 
tea that should arrive in port. A flag floated from the 
top of Liberty Tree, the town crier walked through the 
streets summoning the people, and the town bells rang 
from eleven to twelve o'clock. Adams, Hancock and 
Phillips were present and the character, intelligence 
and wealth of the inhabitants were represented by many 
prominent people. 

!N^OVEMBER 3, 

Three well known consignees were asked to meet 
under the Liberty Tree and resign their commission as 
consignees of the East India Company's tea. Several 
hundred persons met on the Common, though the con- 
signees did not appear. A committee was appointed 



86 BOSTON COMMON" 

and a town meeting held. John Hancock, presiding. 
The consignees refused to resign, and when the news 
came that the tea ships had sailed for Boston the House 
of one Clarke was surrounded by a hooting, howling, 
mob and a pistol fired at one of the windows. A large 
public meeting was held at Faneuil Hall where feelings 
of high indignation arose and tea denounced as a perni- 
cious weed." When the three vessels arrived no clearance 
was permitted and the anticipated storm broke forth in 
great fury. A band of fifty men disgTiised as Indians, 
"very dark complexioned persons, dressed like Mohawks, 
of very grotesque appearance," went to Faneuil Hall, 
and giving a loud "war whoop," were haranged by 
Josiah Quincy who urged the need of adhering to the 
sentiments of the people. The band then proceeded to 
the wharf, and, at dusk, while an anxious crowd looked 
on, boarded the vessels throwing 342 chests into the 
water. A portion of a chest, that had been sold, was 
seized and the money forfeited, when it was carried, by 
a triumphant procession, and burned before the house 
of Mr. Hancock, w^ho stood, smilingly, in the doorway. 
The event was celebrated by bonfires on the Common. 

ISTOVEMBER 3. 

A meeting was called to protest against importing the 
East India Company's tea. Several hundred persons 
assembled under the Liberty Tree, at noon, when a Com- 
mittee was appointed to wait upon the consignees, but 
who refused to listen to them. 



17Y4 June 28. 

Thomas Jefferson had a reception in Boston and 
visited the Common. 



BOSTO:^ COMMOI^ 87 

June. 
On a Thursday and Saturday three transports, filled 
with troops arrived in Kings Eoad and the harbor, and 
the following Monday landed on Long Wharf, On 
board was His Majesty's 4th Eegiment which, landing 
on Monday, marched up to the Common. On Saturday 
the other transport arrived with the 42nd Eegiment on 
board which also encamped on the Common. Two 
others were daily expected from Ireland, a part of them 
arriving the next week. 



August 8. 
The house of Earl Percy, built early in the century, 
stood opposite the Common where many guests passed 
in and out the door. Each afternoon the Earl was seen 
crossing the Common within a stone's throw of the 
camp. 



August 10. 
Four delegates — Thomas Cushing, Eobert Treat 
Paine, Samuel and John Adams — on leaving Boston 
were drawn in a coach preceded by two white servants, 
who rode armed, with four colored servants behind — 
two mounted on horses and two afoot. They passed five 
regiments encamped in tents on the Common. 



August. 
The Fusiliers arrived and encamped on Fort Hill and 
also a force from Halifax. Barracks were now built 
on the Common. At the close of the year General 
Gage had eleven regiments under his command, besides 
several companies of artillery and a naval force. 



88 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

September 1. 
Valentine Ducat was shot, on the Common, for deser- 
tion. 



September 27. 
Soldiers practiced on a target placed in the stream at 
the foot of the Common. 



December 24. 
William Ferguson was shot on the Common for deser- 
tion. 



Saturday, December 24. 
The diarj of a British Officer (said to be Lieutenant 
John Barker, of the Fourth King's Own Regiment of 
Foot) contains the following: '^Bad day; constant 
snow 'till evening, when it turned out rain and sleet. A 
soldier of the Tenth shot for desertion ; the only thing 
done in remembrance of Christmas Day." A gloomy 
holiday. 



Boston — the Puritan town — was greatly indignant 
that the British soldiers raced their horses on the Com- 
mon, on Sundays, or disturbed church services by play- 
ing Yankee Doodle outside the church doors. 



The To^vn and Common — at this time, are vividly 
described by Dr. Holmes : 

''The streets are thronged with trampling feet, 
The northern hill is ridged with graves. 
But night and morn the drum is beat 
To frighten down the "rebel knaves." 
The stones of King Street still are red, 
And yet the bloody red-coats come ; 



BOSTO^T COMMOIT 89 

I hear their pacing sentry's tread, 

The click of steel, the tap of drum. 

And over all the open green, 

A^Tiere grazed of late the harmless kine, 

The cannon's deepening ruts are seen, 

The war-horse stamps, the bayonets shine." 



REVOLUTIONARY 
PERIOD 

1775 Maech. 

The fence before Hancock's House, opposite the 
Common, was cut and defaced by drunken British offi- 
cers so that it was necessary to apply for a guard. 



Apkil 18. 

Percy's brigade slept all night on the Common. A 

walk (now) from Providence Station to West Street 

covers the line of encampment where rings in the grass 

long showed where the wdiite tents stood. 



April 18. 
The Young Folks History of the United States, by 
Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, (1875), says: 
"The patriots kept close watch at Charlestown agreeing 
that if any large force of troops were ordered out by 
night in Boston, a lantern should be hung from the 
jSTorth Church. One night the watchers on the Charles- 
town side of Charles Kiver saw the lantern gleaming in 
the steeple. Instantly all were in motion," Paul 
Eevere's ride is described thus: "So he galloped on 
from house to house, awakening all the principal farm- 
ers ; and we may well suppose that there was no more 



92 BOSTOIsT COMMON" 

sleep in any house that night after Paul Kevere had 

passed by Meantime some 800 British soldiers, 

embarking in boats at the foot of Boston Common 
crossed to what is now East Cambridge. They marched 
silently along the marshes; when suddenly the bells of 
the country towns began to ring and it was plain that 
the alarm had been given." 

April 19. 
Earl Percy's Brigade formed along the Mall and 
started for Lexington. 

April 19. 
The "First blow for liberty" was struck when, on this 
night, at ten o'clock, the King's Troops started out from 
the bottom of the Common for Lexington. Crossing 
over Phip's farm they proceeded as far as Concord, de- 
stroying Magazines, Provisions, and spiking some can- 
non. The patriots warned by Paul Revere who had 
been signalled by the lanterns hung from the steeple of 
the l^orth Church — "one by sea, two by land" rushed 
out of their homes. During the retreat the British 
joined by Lord Percy's brigade, were harassed, from the 
trees and bushes, and all the way to Charlestown, until 
sunset. Thirty patriots were killed and fifty of the 
King's troops. 

April 19. 
Between one and two o'clock in the morning the in- 
habitants of Boston were startled by the ringing of a 
bell. Eight hundred British left the foot of the Com- 
mon, and, embarking in boats and barges, crossed to 
Cambridge and reached Lexington Meeting house just 
before sunrise. 

April 19. 
Lord Percy's troops formed for the relief of the re- 



BOSTOI^ COMMOIsr 93 

treating British from Concord. The line extended 
from Scollay's Square to the Common, 



May ir. 
A disastrous fire occurred in Boston caused bj some 
soldiers handling cartridges, which, exploding, set fire 
to a store used as a barrack. The flames, spreading 
quickly, destroyed thirty warehouses and buildings. 
Many donations of food and clothing, sent to the poor 
of Boston were consumed and great confusion prevailed 
as the fire engines were worked by the soldiers, who, 
not understanding how to work them, were obliged to 
call the citizens. No bells were rung, but the alarm 
was sounded by the "taps o'er drum" which caused a 
rumor that the Whigs had set fire to the town. Much 
excitement prevailed on the Common. 



August. 
The liberty tree was cut down by the British soldiers 
on the Common, when a soldier was killed by falling 
from a limb. The Essex Gazette (31st) says, "Armed 
with axes, they made a furious attack upon it. After 
a long spell of laughing and grinning, sweating, swear- 
ing, and foaming, with malice diabolical, they cut down 
a tree because it bore the name of liberty." 



September 22. 
At twelve o'clock vollevs were fired on the Common, 
Bunker Hill, the Ships in the harbor and the Castle, in 
honor of the king. 



October. 
The Continental troops, outside the town, made fre- 
quent attacks on the British camp on the Common. 



94: BOSTON COMMON 

One man wrote that "our boats went up within gunshot 
of the Common, and, alarmed by firing, and then re- 
turned without any loss on our side." Dr. Belknap 
says, "that two floating batteries came within three- 
quarters of a mile of the botton of the Common, and 
that the shot fired from that point" struck the tents on 
the Common, and killed one man, and the manufactory 
house which is an hospital, which occasioned the removal 
of the sick, also the Lamb Tavern and Martin Brimmer 
House." 

Some men from Cambridge sailed by Brookline Fort, 
down the Bay, and, approaching near the Common, 
opened fire on the town. 

S. A. Drake, in the "Landmarks of Boston," says : 
"The position of the British defences and encampments 
on the Common, during the winter of 1YY5-6, were as 
follows : A small earthwork was thrown up at the 
northwest corner, a little higher up than the present 
entrance on Charles Street ; this was designed for 
infantry, and held by a single company. The little 
elevation mentioned by the name of Fox Hill (near the 
present "Centre Gate" of the Public Garden on Charles 
Street) was nearly or quite surrounded by water at 
times, and was hence called the island ; on this was a 
small redoubt. At the southwest corner, at a point at 
high water mark, now intersected by Boylston Street 

extension, was another breastwork for infantry 

On the westerly slope of the hill, overlooking the parade, 
on which the flagstaff is now situated, was a square 
redoubt, behind which lay encamped a battalion of 
infantry ; to the east, and on a line with the eastern-most 
point of the hill, were two half-moons for small arms, 
with a second battalion in its rear. About opposite 
Carver Street, resting on the southwest corner of the 



BOSTON COMMON 95 

burial gTound, was a bastioned work, directly across 
Boylston Street. This was the second line. On the 
hill formerly known as Flagstaff Hill, but now dedi- 
cated to the soldiers' monument, the artillery was posted, 
protected by intrenchments. 

Immediately behind this hill, stretching from the 
burial ground across to Beacon Street Mall were the 

camps of three battalions of infantry None of the 

works were formidable except the most southern, which 
was connected with the line on the Neck. 

The Common was an intrenched camp, with a regular 
garrison of 1750 men." 

The familiar story may be retold of the Boston boys 
whose snow slides had been destroyed by British soldiers, 
and, who, finding no redress went to General Gage, 
who said "What ! have your fathers been teaching you 
rebellion, and sent you here to exhibit it ?" To which 
one of the boys replied, ''Nobody sent us, sir. We have 
never injured, nor insulted your troops ; but they have 
been spoiling our snow-slides, so that we cannot use 
them any more. We complained ; and they called us 
'Young rebels,' and told us to help ourselves if we could. 
We told the Captain this ; and they laughed at us. 
Yesterday our slides were destroyed once more ; and we 
will bear it no longer!" The General, who could not 
but admire their "love of liberty in the air they 
breathed," assured them that their snow-slides should 
not be interfered with any more. 

The British army now occupied all the grounds on 
the west side of the Common from Beacon Hill to the 
sea, and the pastures on the west side of Pleasant 
Street. 

The British fortified all the highest points of the 
town, including Beacon, Powder House and Fox Hills. 



96 BOSTON COMMON 

A fort was built on West Hill and a strong barricade 
on the Common. 

The British went through their manoeuvres, on the 
Common, Sundays and week days. 

One British, writes : "There was a number of our 
men went a seating on the Bay, near Boston Common, 
and the enemy fired upwards of a hundred small arms 
that did no damage." 

The Common was occupied and fortified by 1700 
British soldiers until the evacuation of Boston. A 
redoubt was built on Flagstaff Hill and the Powder 
House stood near the Frog Pond, while trenches were 
dug all along the Back Bay. It was thought Washing- 
ton intended to attack the town. 

Small-pox, dysentery, scurvy, and other ailments led 
to a large mortality among the British soldiers who 
were buried in trenches at the foot of the Common. 

The wooden fence, around the Common, was demol- 
ished and used for fuel by the British soldiers. 

Several of the largest trees on the Mall were cut 
do^vn by the vandalism of the British soldiers, while 
cellars and ditches dug throughout the camp greatly 
disfigured the Common and of which traces were visible 
long after the evacuation. 



General Gage issued a proclamation when a Tory 
wrote some doggerel lines closing with the following: 
"And now my song is at an end, 
And to conclude my ditty. 
It is the poor and ignorant, 
And only them I pity. 
As for their king, John Hancock, 
And Adams, tlie're taken 



BOSTON COMMOI^T 9Y 

Their hearts for signs shall hang up high 
Upon that hill eall'd Beacon !" 



The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company were 
forbidden to parade on the Common. 



Prayers were held on the Common. 



1776 January. 

During the occupation of Boston, by the British, 
assemblies and dances, disapproved by the residents, 
were held at Concert Hall, on the southerly corner of 
Court and Hanover Streets, (8th). The "Blockade of 
Boston" was performed at Fanueil Hall, which was 
altered into a theatre, where Washington was carica- 
tured wearing a wig, and with a rusty sword, standing 
beside a squire holding a rusty gun. The tragedy of 
"Zara" was also given. 

The following was the programme: 

On Saturday Next 

will be performed by a society of 

ladies and gentlemen at faneuil hall 

The Tragedy of Zara. 

The expenses of the House being paid, the overplus 
will be apply'd to the Benefit of the Widows and Chil- 
dren of the soldiers. No money will be taken at the 
Door, but Tickets will be delivered Today and To- 
morrow, between the hours of Eight and Two, at 
Doctor Morris's in School Street. 

Pit, One Dollar Gallery, Quarter of a Dollar 



98 BOSTON COMMON" 

The Doors to be open at Five, and begin precisely 
at six o'clock. 

***Tickets for Friday will be taken. 
Vivant Rex et Begina. 

The evening had a serious turn when, during one of 
the acts, a Sergeant rushed on the stage shouting "The 
Yankees are attacking our works at Bunker Hill!" 
Everyone thought it a part of the play, but when Gen- 
eral Howe, who was present, gave the order, "Officers, 
to your alarm posts !" a panic ensued and the entire 
audience rushed to the doors. Women fainted and 
shrieked. Major Knowlton had made a raid on 
Charlestown Neck where he had set fire to some houses, 
used by the British, killing one man and taking five 
prisoners. The conflagration, seen in Boston had 
caused the excitement. 

These performances were attended by soldiers sta- 
tioned on the Common. 



Sunday, Maech 17. 
When the British evacuated Boston the Americans 
occupied the town, at two o'clock p. m., a party from 
Cambridge landing on the Common. 



March 17. 
Flags were waved, amid public congratulations, on 
the evacuation, by the British, of Boston and the Com- 
mon. 



Spring. 

The body of Major General Joseph Warren, killed at 

Bunker Hill, preceded by several Freemason lodges and 

followed by thousands of his fellow citizens, was carried 

from the spot where he fell to King's Chapel where 



BOSTO]^ COMMON 99 

religious services were held when the remains were 
buried in the "Minot Tomb" in the Granary Burying 
Ground. 



Septembek 19. 
The pole on Beacon Hill was again raised. 



When Washington occupied Dorchester Heights it 
was ordered as a part of the plan, in case of an attack 
from the British General Howe, General Putnam, with 
two divisions, should assault the works on Beacon Hill. 
Had the expected attack been made the Common would 
have been the scene of a battle of the Revolution adding 
to its historic charm. 



1777 October 5. 

Elijah Woodward was shot, on the Common, for 
desertion. 



The "Massachusetts State Train," an artillery Regi- 
ment, raised for the defense of Boston, figured prom- 
inently. Colonel Thomas Crafts issued an order direct- 
ing Captain Stoddard and Lieutenant Hinkley to hold 
their detachments in readiness to "embarque" for Dor- 
chester, and then, with arms and accoutrements, to 
proceed by land to Boston and assemble on the Common. 



1778 January 7. 

The arrival of the Hon. John Hancock was announced 
by the ringing of bells and the firing of Cannon by 
Colonel Crafts artillery on the Common. 



September 19. 
A circus opened at the foot of the Mall. 



100 BOSTON" COMMON 

There were many old nooks and corners, taverns and 
inns, coffee-houses, loitering places for news and gossip, 
also resorts where boys and negroes met for play and 
roguery, on wharf, or lane, were dark holes of ill repute, 
all of whose frequenters were seen on the Common. 



1779 June 1. 

When Admiral DeEstaing visited Boston a reception 
was given to him at the Hancock mansion when the 
Common, it was said, was ''bedizened with lace" as the 
officers walked up Beacon Hill. The cows were all 
milked. 



NATIONAL PERIOD 



1780 May 19. 

A dark day, caused by smoke from the burning of 
trees in the Maine woods, frightened many people in 
town and on the Common. 



September 10. 
Counterfeiters, with ropes about their necks, were 
placed on the gallows on the Neck. 



A gentleman named Willard, while making observa- 
tions, on the Common, was suddenly approached by a 
stranger who, running through the crowd, breathlessly, 
exclaimed, "The tide has ceased to flow!" "So it has 
for today," replied Mr. W. taking out his watch, '' 'tis 
past twelve o'clock." 



The Common originally extended as far as Mason 
Street and the whole block of houses — Colonnade Row — 
was built upon it, though its dimensions were enlarged 
by the town purchasing about two acres of ground, 
belonging to William Foster, on Boylston Street, east 
of the burying ground and extending as far as Tremont 
Street. 



102 BOSTOlSr COMMOiq' 

The "Pendulum Ferry boat" ran from the foot of 
the Common across to Charlestown. 



1Y81 October 17. 

The surrender of Cornwallis on this date was sub- 
sequently celebrated by a large bonfire with great 
crowds on the Common. 



The principal taverns were the White Horse, the 
Black Horse, the Lamb, and the Oliver Cromwell, kept 
by a man named Brackett, in School Street. Then 
there were four public houses; the oldest was the 
Admiral Vernon at the lower corner of Merchants Row, 
the Bunch of Grapes was kept by Colonel Marston at 
the corner of Kilby Street, the Coffee House, by Deacon 
Jones, on the site of the Massachusetts Bank, and the 
fourth kept by Mr. Gray, at the corner of Royal Ex- 
change Lane and called the Exchange. Many lodgers 
sat on the Common. 



1782 June. 

The birth of the Dauphin was celebrated in Boston 
and "a number of rockets, wheels, bee-hives and other 
fireworks displayed on the Common." 



1783 May 23. 

James Otis — Revolutionary patriot — was killed by a 
stroke of lightning while "leaning upon his cane at the 
front door" of the house of his friend, Isaac Osgood at 
Andover, Massachusetts, and was buried in the Granary 
Burying Ground the following Monday; the body was 
preceded to the grave by the "Honorable Fraternity of 
Free and Accepted Masons" and followed by a long 
train of citizens. 



BOSTOIsT COMMON" 103 

July 4. 

The first oration was delivered by Dr. John Warren. 
Fireworks were seen on the Common. 



It was a matter of gratification that the trees, on the 
Common, were not injured during the Revolution. 



It was ordered that the part of the Common between 
the Granary and the ITorth end be places for the Wood 
Markets for the sale of all the wood brought into the 
town. 



1784 January 1. 

A liberty pole was raised on the spot of the Liberty 
Tree. 



Maech 4. 
Terms of peace being definitely settled between Eng- 
land and the Colonies a day of celebration was ap- 
pointed, which, says the Continental Journal and 
Weekly Advertiser, "was ushered in with the ringing 
of bells and discharge of cannon which continued, by 

intervals, throughout the day The Governor's 

House, with the public buildings, was beautifully illu- 
minated and, at seven o'clock, a grand exhibition of 
fireworks was displayed, on the Common, such as were 
never before equalled in this place. 



October 28. 
Grant and Cover were hung, on the Common, for 
murder. 



Blackstone's spring ran in crystal brightness until 



104 BOSTON COMMON" 

the opening of Louisburg Square, covering a period of 
half a century. 



The Common was greatly improved by private sub- 
scription, ''low portions were raised, holes filled up, 
uneven places graded, fences repaired and trees 
planted." 



A wooden fence, around the Common, used by the 
British for fuel was replaced by a subscription started 
by Dr. Oliver Smith. 



A third row of trees was planted by Oliver Smith and 
others, inside the two rows on the Common. 



A third row of trees was planted on the Tremont 
Street Mall. 



A third row of trees was planted, near the Mall, on 
the Common. 



CONFEDERATION 
PERIOD 



1785 ]\J:ay 5 

William Scott and Thomas ArcliibaL 
the Common, for committing burglary 



William Scott and Thomas Archibald were hung, on 



A Musick Gallery, kept by Mr. Eaton, stood near 
the Mall. ! ' ' 

The Columbian Museum, with a wax works exhibi- 
tion, was at the head of the Common. 

The Pantheon (a riding school) was at the foot of 
the Mall. ' % >•;*! 

Foot races on the Charles Street Mall. 

There seemed, apparently to be an indiscriminate 
use of both Mall and Common. 



An "Onlooker" writes in the Massachusetts Centinel, 
"In the evening very few were in the Mall, though we 
fear some were disappointed of their customary tour 
to that frequented place, upon account of a severe giist 
of wind. That many of the fair were detained from 
principle and not the weather we are induced to believe 
is the cause, and that the happiness of our females is 
built upon a foundation more permanent than wind. 



106 BOSTOI^ COMMON" 

We, however, commiserate the disappointment of some 
and with the next Sunday may afford some gentler 
relaxation from divine service." 



1786 Januaey 6. 

An earthquake, which did considerable damage in 
town, was felt on the Common. 



NOVEMBEE 9. 

A severe earthquake, which lasted for three minutes, 
was felt on the Common. 



Governor Hancock, Governor Bowdoin, Thomas 
Russell, Esq., and others raised a sum to improve the 
Common. Trees were planted on Park Street. 



1787 May 23. 

It was voted that "the Selectmen allot for the Light 

Horse the west part of the Common to the beach for 



exercising horses." 



June. 
An attempt was made to remove the State House 
from the Common. 



JSTOVEMBEK 22. 

John Sheehan, a native of Cork, Ireland, was 
executed, on the Common, for committing a burglary 
in the house of Mr. T. Elliot on the previous June. His 
behavior at the last was calm and he met his end with 
composure. He was a Roman Catholic, twenty-four 
years old. The Centinel says, "except for the burglary 



BOSTON COMMOI^ 107 

for which he suffered, (he) does not appear, bj his life, 
to have been guilty of many atrocious offences." 



Two acres and an eighth, belonging to William Foster, 
in the south corner and extending as far as the burying 
ground, became a part of the Common. 



The portion occupied by the Deer Park including 
Park Street, became a part of the Common. 



A Gunhouse, Hay scales and School-house stood on 
the Common. 



Boys threw balls up against Beacon Hill catching 
them as they rebounded. 



1788 January 19. 

Lieutenant Governor Thomas Gushing died, aged 63, 
and was buried in the Granary burying ground. In- 
scription : "He took an active part in the Revolu- 
tionary conflict and was several years Speaker of the 
House of Representatives of Massachusetts, until he 
became a member of the Continental Congress in the 
year 1774-5." 



May 8. 
Archibald Taylor and Joseph Taylor were hung, on 
the ISTeck, for robbing a Mr. Cunningham. The rob- 
bery was committed near the spot of execution. 



The Frog Pond was a small mud hole on the Common. 



108 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

1789 , July. 

The Massachusetts Magazine contained a "View of 
the Seat of His Excellency John Hancock, Esq., Bos- 
ton," by Hill. 



October 8. 
William Dannesse, William Smith and Rachel Wall 
were all hung, on the Common, for highway robbery. 



October 24. 
General Washington visited Boston when much 
excitement prevailed throughout the town and on the 
Common. 



Massachusetts adopted the Constitution when the 
Convention dined and drank toasts. A grand proces- 
sion walked the streets with representations of agricul- 
ture, the trades, the ship "Federal Constitution," drawn 
by thirteen horses, with a crew of thirteen men. Captain, 
Seamen and Militia companies. Salutes were fired in 
front of the State House when a grand dinner ended 
the day's proceedings. In the evening another proces- 
sion drew the boat "The Old Constitution" to the Com- 
mon where amid loud hurrahs, it was burned. 



The Beacon was blown down. 



1790 May. 

A monument, commemorating the patriots who fell 
at Bunker Hill, 60 feet in height and enclosed by a 
fence with seats for visitors, affording a charming view 
of the town, bay and surrounding country, was com- 
pleted on Beacon Hill. Four tablets which are pre- 



BOSTON COMMOE" 109 

* 
served in Doric Hall in the State House, — are inscribed 

as follows : 

Tablet on the South Side. 

"To commemorate that train of events which led to 

the American Revolution and finally secured Liberty 

and Independence to the United States. This column 

is erected by the voluntary contributions of the citizens 

of Boston, MDCCXC." 

Tablet on the Is^orth Side. 

"Stamp Act passed 1765, Repealed 1766. 

Board of Customs established 1767. 

British troops fired on the Inhabitants of Boston, 
March 5, 1770. Tea Act passed 1773. Tea destroyed 
in Boston Decern 16. Port of Boston shut and guarded 
June 1, 1774. 

General Congress at Philadelphia, Septem 14. Pro- 
vincial Congress at Concord Oct. 11. Battle of Lexing- 
ton April 19, 1775. Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17. 
Washington took command of the Army, July 2. Bos- 
ton Evacuated, March 17, 1776. Independence De- 
clared by Congress, July 4, 1776. Hancock President." 

Tablet on the West Side. 
"Capture of Hessians at Trenton, Dec. 26th, 1776. 
Capture of Hessians at Bennington, Aug. 16, 1777. 
Capture of British Army at Saratoga, Oct. 17. Al- 
liance with France, Feb. 6, 1778. Confederation of the 
United States formed July 9. Constitution of Massa- 
chusetts formed 1780. Bowdoin President of Conven- 
tion. Capture of British Army at York, Oct. 19, 1781. 
Preliminaries of Peace, 'Nov. 30, 1782. Definitive 
Treaty of Peace, Sep. 10, 1783. Federal Constitution 
formed Sep. 17, 1787, and ratified by the United 
States, 1787-1790. New Congress Assembled at New 



110 BOSTON COMMON 

York, April 6, 1780. Washington Inaugurated Presi- 
dent, April 30. Public Debts funded, Aug. 4, 1790." 
Tablet on the East Side. 

"Americans, while from this eminence scenes of 
luxuriant fertility, of flourishing commerce and the 
abodes of social happiness meet your view, forget not 
those who, by their exertions, have secured to you these 
blessings." 



July 4. 
The children of the Almshouse, on the Common, were 
dined by Governor Hancock. 



OCTOBEE 14. 

Edward Vail (white) and John Bailey (colored) 
were hung, on the Common, for burglary. 



November 6. 
Governor James Bowdoin died, in Boston and was 
buried in the Granary Burying Ground when "Captain 
Johnson's Artillery was paraded on Beacon Hill and 
discharged minute guns during the solemnities." His 
name is honored in Bowdoin College. 



Rev. Jesse Lee, a Methodist, preached under the 
Great Elm, on the Common, to larger crowds than any 
since Whitefield. 



Boston was a thriving towm with its windmills. Meet- 
ing Houses, Sloops tied to the docks, Market Place, 
Stately Mansions, Gloomy Prison, Old Taverns whose 
quaint signs hung outside, Whipping Post, Beacon and 
the Common. 



BOSTON COMMON 111 

1791 Mat 16. 

An earthquake, doing considerable damage in town, 
was felt on the Common. 



1792 February 22. 

Washington's birthday was celebrated in Boston 
when many walked on the Common. 



September 4. 
Nathaniel Cutting, on a visit to Boston, alluding to 
the obelisk on Beacon Hill, said it reminded one of "a 
farthing candle placed in a large candle-stick upon the 
altar of some Roman Catholic Chapel." Others de- 
clared it to be a "handsome Doric Column." 



Permission was granted to put pumps on the Common 
"provided the charge of the same be defrayed by private 
subscription." 



1793 January 24. 

A grand citizens parade and civic feast celebrated the 
French struggle for civil liberty. An ox, also wagons, 
filled with bread loaves, were in the procession, which 
beginning at the foot of Middle Street, passed through 
various streets to the Common, stopping at State Street 
where the ox was roasted and hogsheads of punch drank. 



September 16. 
Four men and five women were placed on the gallows, 
on the Neck. 



112 BOSTON COMMON 

October 8. 
General John Hancock, tile First Federal Governor 
of the Commonwealth — whose bold, dashing signature 
is seen on the Declaration of Independence, died at the 
age of fifty-six. An immense concourse of military and 
citizens attended the funeral in the Granary Burying 
Ground. 



October 14. 
Funeral of John Hancock. "The procession moved, 
at two o'clock from the Mansion House of the late Gov- 
ernor Hancock; around the Common, and down Frog 
Lane (Boylston Street) to Liberty Pole; through the 
Main Street — and round the State House — up Court 
Street — and from thence to the place of interment." 



The John Hancock inventory contains the clause: 
"The pasture, adjoining the garden and Beacon Hill, 
between the mansion and D. D. Rogers, £3000." 



During the Hancock administration (1Y80-1Y93) 
Rachell Whall was hung, on the Common, for highway 
robbery. She had grabbed a bonnet, worth seventy-five 
cents, from another woman and ran away. 



Edward Vaile Brown was hung, on the Common, for 
committing burglary at the house of Captain Osias 
Goodwin, on Charles Street, and stealing different 
household articles. 



1Y94 February 3. 

Three pirates — Collins, Poleski and Fertidi — were 
hung oni the Common. 



BOSTOI^ COMMON 113 

July 30. 
A large fire, extending to Russia Wharf at the 
water's edge, destroyed nearly 100 houses and stores, 
including six rope walks, which, by kind permission of 
the authorities, were allowed to be rebuilt at the foot 
of the Common. The o^vners paying no rent or taxes. 



The town granted to the sufferers by the fire "a 
piece of marshlands and flats at the bottom of the Com- 
mon, including such parts of Fox Hill as shall fall 
within the prescribed boundaries." These flats were 
then regarded as the boundary of the Common. The 
grant was made during a period of much excitement 
and sympathy, the prospective value of the land not 
being thought of, and was also perpetual. Their 
reclamation could only be effected by compromise. 



The Massachusetts Historical Society collections con- 
tain a description of the Common, viz. : "The Common 
is a spacious, square level spot of ground, below Beacon 
Hill, and to the east of it. It contains about fifty-five 
acres, and is a fine grazing pasture for the town's cattle. 
On days of public festivity, the militia and military 
corps repair to the Common for the purpose of parading 
and performing their military manoeuvres. On such 
occasions it is thronged with all ranks of citizens. The 
lower classes divert themselves with such pastimes as 
suit their particular inclination. A number of tents or 
temporary booths are put up, and furnished with food 
and liquor for those who require refreshments and can 
pay for it 

"The Mall is on the eastern side of the Common, in 
length one thousand, four hundred and ten feet, divided 
into two walks, parallel to each other; separated by a 



114 BOSTOI^ COMMOIT 

row of trees. On the outside of each walk is also a row 
of trees which agreeably shade them. The inhabitants 
of the town resort thither in the morning and evening 
of the warm seasons of the year, for the benefit of the 
fresh air and a pleasant walk. It is fanned by refresh- 
ing breezes from a part of Charles River which extends 
round the bottom of the Common. From the Mall is a 
pleasing prospect, over the river, of the adjacent city." 



A Windmill was set up on the ISTecklands. 



1795 May 15. 

Ground was broken for the State House on Beacon 
Hill. 



June 1. 
A new Amphitheatre was established, at the foot of 
the Mall, near the Common. 



July 4. 
The cornerstone of the new State House was laid 
when the ceremonies, forming a part of the day's cele- 
bration, drew many to the Common. 



September 14. 
The frame of the Columbian Museum was raised by 
Mr. Bowen, at the head of the Mall, on the Common. 



ISTOVEMBER 9. 

The Almshouse, Workhouse, and Granary Grounds 
were sold at public auction. 



The town voted to sell the Almshouse, Workhouse, 
Bridewell and Granary on condition that they should 
be removed. The buildings remained, however, used 



B0ST0:N^ COMMOi^ 115 

for various stores, refreshment stands, etc., for a num- 
ber of years. 



State House built on Beacon Hill. 



Deacon Jolin Sullivan hired a well known bell-crier 
named Wilson to go around to the different schools, ring 
up the children, and lead them over the Common to 
enjoy the new mown hay." 



a 



Up to this year the Common was bounded by a fence 
on the north, east and south sides. The west was 
covered by marshy flats, the Western Bay and Charles 
River. 



1796 October 19. 

The State House was built and the dome completed. 



The "six acre lot," the park and pasture, that faced the 
Common and was washed by the waters of the Western 
Cove, was reconveyed by Copley, the patentee, to Har- 
rison Gray Otis and John Mason. The orchard was 
Bannister's Gardens, seen in Burgiss map (1728), and 
the house, it is said, was bounded by Beacon, Walnut 
and Spruce Streets with the sea rising and ebbing near 
Spruce Street. I^^To records exist of the conveyance of 
the six acre lot from Blackstone, nor is there any to 
Copley. The earliest is a deed recorded by the Brac- 
kett's to Williams and Vial (1676) which was conveyed 
to Thomas Bannister (1709) and from whose heirs, by 
foreclosures, mortgages and other legal ways, not 
recorded, it finally came into the possession of Copley 
(prior to 1770), Mrs. Ann Pollard, in a deposition, 
(1711) says, "that Blackstone sold his homestead to 



116 BOSTOIT COMMOIsr 

Ricliard Pepys who built a house on the land where her 
husband was a tenant and, perchance Pepy's may also 
have lived on the same property. Two ancient houses 
stood on the Copley estate ; in one Copley painted many 
of his choicest portraits, where his son, the dis- 
tinguished Chancellor Lyndhurst, was born. Mrs. Ann 
Pollard was the first of Winthrop's Colony to leap 
ashore on the Peninsula and who died (1Y25) at the 
advanced age of 105. The ground conveyed by Copley 
was nearly twenty acres, the proprietors being allowed 
100 rods below the highest water mark. Pepy's is said 
to have returned to England on or before the restora- 
tion of the Monarchy. He was a cousin of Samuel, and, 
some think, the author of "Pepy's Diary," and a Judge 
in Ireland, (1664) Lord Cottenham (Chancellor in 1836- 
41) is a descendant who succeeded Lyndhurst. Black- 
stone belonged to the same family as Sir William, whose 
commentaries on the English laws are known all over 
the world and who, a son of Charles, was born in Lon- 
don, (1723) (died 1780) William, the first inhabitant, 
had grandsons, one of whom, a First-Lieutenant, was 
killed at the seige of Louisburg, (1746). The parent- 
age and birth place of the father, is something of a 
mystery, though Suffolk Deeds (1653) show that 
Sarah Blackstone, of New Castle-upon-Tyne,was author- 
ized to collect money and which deeds contain the name 
of Stevenson who was the first husband of Blackstone's 
wife. Blackstone received a grant (1638) from the 
authorities, of fifteen acres at Muddy Brook — now 
Brookline — which was then a part of Boston, but 
whether he continued a freeman, not selling his estate, 
is not proven. Again he is said to have left Shawmut 
and, taking his library, appurtenances and cattle, moved 
to Rehoboth, (Spring 1635) where, in a locality a few 



BOSTON COMMOIT IIY 

rods from the Blackstone River and on a declivity sixty 
feet high, he made his home in a house called "Study 
Hill," with 200 acres, v^here he lived until his death 
(May 26, 1675) having reached the ripe age of four 
score. During his residence at Study Hill he met 
Miantonimo, nephew of Canonicus, King of the Nar- 
ragansetts, Ocamsequin or Massasoit, King of the 
Wampanoags, and also their sons Canonchet and King 
Philip. It is thought his influence with his Indian 
friends averted hostilities among the tribes, which were 
very prevalent after his death. He made occasional 
visits to Boston and preached in Providence and Bos- 
ton, (1695). While at Shawmut he broke in a bull 
to bit and bridle which he rode over his estate of 750 
acres and which he continued to do at Rehoboth. Gov- 
ernor Endicott had married Miss Sarah Stevenson, 
widow of John (who died in June, 1673). The lands 
at Rehoboth, comprising 200 acres, were sold by Black- 
stone's only child John (1693) and purchased by the 
Whipples by whom they were held until a recent period. 
The Indians, making a raid, (1676) burned the house, 
barns and nearly 200 books, with quartos, folios and 
some Latin works. This was known as one of the few 
Indian victories near Study Hill. Manuscripts, vol- 
umes and valuable historic papers are thought to have 
been lost in this fire. Blackstone's grave, near the site 
of his dwelling, is marked by stones at the head and 
foot, but that he should have more than one monument 
has long since been suggested. ^Notwithstanding these 
records it is also stated that when Blackstone left the 
Peninsula he moved to Cumberland, Rhode Island, 
where he built a house and, it is said, raised the first 
orchard to grow the first yellow-sweet apple. He is 
said to have made a lasting impression in his words 



118 BOSTO]^ COMMON" 

and deeds and was conscientious, noble and generous. 
He is everywhere admired for his intellectual pursuits, 
love of nature, cultivation of the earth and subjection 
of the lords of the pasture to his bidding and the cour- 
age of his convictions. His life was one of seclusion, 
away from the bustle and the turmoil of a busy world. 
He had relinquished the tyranny of the throne and 
sought religious freedom, preferring the wilds of the 
forest to the arbitrary injustice, amid the civilization, 
of the old world. His name, like that of Mather, 
Hutchinson, Stoughton, Sewall and Williams passed 
into history. It is now recalled by a "Bank," a "Street" 
and a "Square" in Boston. 

When Copley agreed to sell the estate, on his depart- 
ure for England, many years afterward he desired to 
annul the contract on the ground of not being aware of 
the contemplated erection of the State House and other 
improvements. 



1797 April 6. 

John Stewart was hung, on the Common, for several 
robberies committed at the house of Captain Rust, on 
Prince Street. The plunder was hid in a tomb on 
Copp's Hill where the burglar was traced and caught 
one stormy night. 



June. 

Increase Sumner was sworn in office when a large 

body of citizens, riding in carriages and mounted on 

horseback, assembled on the Common, and, proceeding 

to Roxbury, escorted the Governor into town. 



July 4. 
The first parade of a new cavalry company drew 



BOSTON COMMON" 119 

quite a crowd to the streets when some went to the 
Common. 



October 30. 
Stephen Smith was hung, on the Common, for arson. 



October 30. 
More criminals were executed on the Common. 



A poem entitled "Beacon Hill," by Sarah Went- 
worth Morton, was published by Messrs. Manning & 
Loring, in Boston. The opening lines are: 
"Far from this spot, ye light delusions, fly. 
While fix'd Attention lifts her boundless eye, 
O'er Bunker's field each hallow'd view explores, 
Sees the twin-rivers lave the purple shores. 
Where the high soil disdain'd the trembling flood, 
And stain'd the white wave with Britannia's blood. 
Unwearying change the sacred scene displays, 
Pillar'd with hills, that fling the morning rays. 
And giass'd with streams, that through the twilight 

glade. 
Reflect the reddening skies and broider'd shade ; 
Here the light scyons' wavy beauties flow. 
And seem a plumage on the mountain's brow; 
There the proud dome o'erlooks the distant mead, 
Where the blue Mystic lifts his sparkling head, 
Ceres in smiles her liberal treasure yields. 
And waves of gold enrich the floating fields." 



1798 January 11. 

The State House was first occupied on Beacon Hill. 



120 BOSTON" COMMON" 

June 20. 
Kev. Jeremy Belknap, D. D. (Presbyterian Church), 
Boston, died, and was buried in the Granary Burying 
Ground. A most distinguished clergyman. 



1799 January. 

The body of Governor Increase Sumner was buried 
in the northerly corner of the Granary Burying Ground 
where the inscription reads: "He was born at Box- 
bury, November 27, 1746, and died at the same place, 
June 7, 1799, in the 53rd year of his age." 



December 24. 

The news of the death of Washington was received 

with universal expressions of sorrow in the city, bells 

tolled all day while many, with sad faces, walked on the 

Common. 

December 24. 
Funeral obsequies for the death of Washington 
caused great crowds on the streets and Common. 



Close of the 18th Century. 

During the small-pox epidemic infected clothes were 

spread out, in different places, on the Common. Many 

victims died and were buried in the Granary or the 

Burial Ground on the Common. 



1800 January. 

The first number of the Columbian PJioenix and 
Boston Review contains an engraving of "The Boston 
Troops as Keviewed on the Common, on President 
Adams birthday, October 30, 1799, by his Honor Lieu- 
tenant Governor Gill and Major General Elliott, under 



BOSTON COMMON 121 

the command of Brigadier General Winslow." The 
State House is a prominent centre. 



March 11. 
An earthquake, doing some damage in town, was felt 
on the Common. 



September 26. 
Billings died in town, who, it was said, first intro- 
duced the violincello, which led to the use of the organ 
in the churches of Boston. His grave is, unmarked, 
on the Common. 



The land lying west of Beacon Hill was called New 
Boston. 



Constables were ordered to patrol the Common even- 
ings. 



1802 May 18. 

A fire occurred in Boston at noon when, it was said, 
"the alarm was communicated rapidly by the watchmen 
stationed on Beacon Hill." 



The whipping posts stood in different places : One 
on Queen Street, another on State Street and still 
another on the Common. A writer saw, from his school 
windows, a woman brought in an iron cage, stripped to 
the waist and then made to suffer thirty or forty lashes 
while the jeers of the mob only partly drowned her 
screams. 



The law against sabbath breakers was enforced to 



122 BOSTON COMMON 

prevent bathing at the foot of the Common. The fol- 
lowing lines appeared in the Centinal: 

"In superstitious days, 'tis said, 
Hens laid two eggs on Monday, 
Because a hen would lose her head 
That laid an egg on Sunday. 

Now our wise rulers and the law 
Say none shall wash on Sunday ; 
So Boston folks must dirty go, 
And wash them twice on Monday." 



The University, and town, of Cambridge, with the 
suburbs, affords a fine view of the State House lantern. 



The even surface of Boston is varied by three hills : 
Beacon (west), Copps (north) and Fort (east). Bea- 
con takes its name from the Beacon Light, Copp's, for 
the first owner of the land ; a shoemaker and elder of 
Dr. Mather's church, and Fort from an ancient fort that 
stood on the site. 



Boston was originally called Tri-mountain. 



1803 October 2. 

Samuel Adams, the American patriot and signer of 
the Declaration of Independence, died, after living a 
few days past the age of 81, and was buried, amid a vast 
throng and the tolling of bells, in the "tomb," in the 
Granary Burying Ground. 



1804. August 1. 

A large funeral procession out of respect to the 



BOSTON COMMON 123 

memory of Alexander Hamilton, killed in a duel with 
Aaron Burr, caused great crowds on the streets and the 
Common. 



Feuds existed between the l^Torth End boys and the 
"Charlestown boys." Scouts watched the bridge for 
stray "pigs" and sometimes on a Thursday or Saturday 
afternoon the rival forces met armed with clubs and 
snowballs and lead by an appointed "head" engaged in 
a fierce encounter resulting, oftentimes, in unpleasant 
injuries. When the "Copp's-hillers" had "fixed" the 
"pigs*' other fights occurred with the "Prince-Streeters," 
the "Ann Streeters" (a rough set), the "West Enders," 
the "Fort-Hillers," and the "South Enders." Camps, 
commanded by "Generals," were erected on the Com- 
mon where the opposing juvenile forces more than once, 
met in battle. The amusement, however, became dan- 
gerous and was stopped by Mayor Quincy. 

"Follow the Leader," played on the Common, became 
a favorite game and not so dangerous. 



1805 June. 

A watch hou^e was occupied near the Beacon monu- 
ment. 



Whipping was practiced on a raised platform, on the 
Common, where criminals, for minor offences, were 
sometimes made to stand without being lashed. 

A petition to the Selectmen, said, that "the Mill 
Pond, on the Common, is a nuisance, full of petrid fish, 
dead dogs and cats." 



1806 Apeil 16. 

A total eclipse of the sun was seen on the Common. 



124 BOSTON COMMON" 

July 4. 

A bear, brought from the East Indies, who, standing 
on his hind legs, performed various antics, and also had 
a fight with a man, was a part of the day's celebration 
on the Common. 



The six rope walks were burned on the Common. 
Five were rebuilt. 



Foot ball and hockey, both favorite games, were 
played by boys during the summer. In winter, coast- 
ing down the hills was much enjoyed on the Common. 



Faneuil Hall was enlarged in a double width and a 
third story. That it would always be a hall of the 
people was certain as the city charter provides that 
neither Faneuil Hall nor the Common could ever be 
sold or rented. 



1808 Decembek 10. 

Governor James Sullivan died, and was buried in the 
"family tomb" in the Granary Burying Ground. The 
inscription reads : "Late Governor and Commander in 
Chief of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, who 
departed this life on the tenth day of December, A. D. 
1808, aged 64 years." 



Boys batted balls up the steep of Beacon Hill, and, 
descending, prevented their rolling to the bottom. 

The view from the top of Beacon Hill was after- 
wards likened to that seen from the State House dome, 
with its "scenes of luxuriant fertility," etc. 



bosto:n' common 125 

1809 

The Granary house, on the Common, was used for 
the Storage of potash. 



The Granary house was removed to build the Park 
Street Church on the Common. 



The Granary house was moved from the Common to 
Commercial Point, Dorchester and altered into a hotel. 



The uniting of the two branches of the Congrega- 
tional order — the old and the new — produced a poem 
entitled, "A Legend of Brimstone Corner," containing 
the verses : ■ ' 



a 



The Devil beamed with horrid joy, 

Till to the Common's rim they came, 

Then chuckled, 'Wait you here, my boy, 

For duties now my presence claim 

In yonder church on Brimstone Corner, 

Where Pleasure's dead and lacks a mourner.' 

And that is why the faithful Gale 

Round Park Street Corner still must blow, 

Waiting for him with horns and tail, 

At least some people tell me so, 

ISTone of your famous antiquarians, 

But just some wicked Unitarians." 



The Park Street Church was built. 



1810 July 4. 

It was voted by the town to open a new burial ground 
on the Neck. 



126 BOSTOI^ COMMON 

Two pirates — Sam Tullj and a companion named 
Dalton — were sentenced to be hung at Roxbury ITeck 
on the Peninsula, South Boston. Dalton got a reprieve 
on the gallows and became a Methodist or Baptist 
preacher. 



An old tavern, called the Roebuck, stood on a narrow, 
curved, lane leading out of Ann Street, where a murder 
was committed by two Danish or Swedish sailors — 
John P. Rog and I^ils Peterson — both — with two others, 
were hanged on Roxbury Neck when pedlars sold "pairs 
of verses." Two lines were: 

"And, oh, the cruel murderers ! it was a dreadful din, 
The one he took a loggerhead, another, a rolling pin." 



The tide rose over Charles Street making a swamp 
with salt-water grass at the lower end of the Common. 



People leaving the Common would often cross to the 
Washington Garden — on Colonnade Row, nearly op- 
posite the Park Street Church — a favorite resort for 
open air concerts, ice cream, lemonade with sticks and 
flirtations. 



Once or twice a year a parade celebrated the "Feast 
of Squantum" when the best people of the town per- 
formed Indian rites. Mounted cavaliers, wearing 
white top boots and spurs, rode back and forth over the 
Common. 



The Mall around the Common was nearly completed 
by private subscription. 



BOSTON COMMOIT 127 

1811 April 30. 

Kev. Joseph Eckley, pastor of the Old South Church 

died, and was buried in the Granary Burying Ground. 



Beacon Hill was a favorite resort for the people of 
Boston as well as strangers. 

The brick monument was taken down on Beacon Hill 
and the hill levelled. 

The highest part of Beacon Hill was dug down for 
dwellings. 



1812 August 31. 

The Salem Light Infantry came to return the visit 
of the Boston Light Infantry and pitched their tents on 
the Common and were reviewed, by the Governor, on 
Fort Hill in the afternoon. 



ISTOVEMBER 25. 

A petition, signed by many inhabitants, remonstrated 
against further executions on the Common and which 
was granted by the board. 



The sails of the frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides) 
that figured in the war with England when "Her 
thunders shook the mighty deep," were made, by con- 
sent of Mr. Bulfinch, at the Granary, on the Common, 
where the spacious floor gave ample room to spread. 



The military companies were the I^ew England 
Guards and the Rifle Rangers. Also the Sea Fencibles, 
Captain Winston Lewis, a ship chandler on State 
Street, which composed of sailors, was organized early 
in the war. Their headquarters was at the Gunhouse 
at the foot of the Common. There was not much 



128 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

soldiering in these days, though l^igger 'Lection and 
Fourth of July drew out a good number of uniformed 
companies, and the Ancient and Honorable paraded on 
Artillery Election Day, The Governor, before the 
organization of the Lancers, also was always escorted by 
a company of Cavalry to Cambridge on Commencement 
Day. --'-^^ 



During the war a quantity of cannons were kept on 
the corner of the Common (Tremont Street). 



1813 May 21. 

Apprehensions for an attack on the Maine border 
led to a guard being ordered for the Park Artillery "to 
parade at the Gunhouse on the Common, at seven 
o'clock, on Saturday evening next, with their side arms 
and in their uniforms complete." 



June. 
The Polyanthus contains an aqua-tint of a "View on 
Boston Common," which (1910) was exhibited in the 
Boston Athenaeum. 



Dr. Joy died, at South Boston Point, in the house he 
had once built, on the Copley estate, when he wished a 
country home, saying it "being country enough for 
him," and it was said "he was right in believing that 
nowhere else could he inhale purer breezes than those 
which were wafted across the Boston Common and the 
river that then washed its borders." The noxious ex- 
halations of the Back Bay do not, even now, reach the 
Common. 



BOSTON COMMOIST 129 

1814 April 10. 

A report that a British fleet was off the cost of Boston 
led the authorities to make great preparations for 
defence causing much excitement in town and on the 
Common. 



April 13. 
A reward of one hundred dollars was offered, by the 
Selectmen, for the arrest of grave robbers at the South 
Burying Grounds. 

April 23. 

The Boston Gazette announces a procession of the 

Washington Benevolent Society, on the 30th, "the route 

of the procession will be from the State House to the 

Common, thence, across the Common to Boylston Street. 



May 10. 
Oliver H. Perry; the hero of Lake Erie, visited 
Boston and the Common. 



May 10. 
Commodore Perry was a guest of honor and tendered 
a grand dinner in Boston upon which occasion he was 
escorted by the Rangers, Winslow Blues, ISTew England 
Guards and Boston Light Infantry all drawn up on the 
Common. Guests, who assembled at the State House, 
crossed to the upper part of the enclosure. 



May 11. 
Robert Treat Paine, signer of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, died and was buried in the Granary Bury- 
ing Ground. 



130 BOSTON COMMO]^ 

June 15. 
A religious Festival was held to celebrate Europe's 
triumph over the despotism of military power. It 
proved a melancholy affair. The Independent Chron- 
icle, says : "Ten thousand persons to assemble in the 
open Common, to look at 2600 lamps burning in the 
windows of the State House was a ludicrous display of 
festivity." The day was closed by fireworks on the 
Common while the Hancock and Bowdoin mansions 
were highly illuminated. 



September 6. 
More apprehensions of an attack on the Maine border 
led to detachments of Military being encamped on the 
Common. 



Captain Osgood, who commanded the Militia, on the 
Common, applied for "100 kettles, 200 pans, 100 pint 
pots, 32 axes, 32 spades, straw and wood." 



The Boston and Albany Mill Corporation projected 
building a dam with passenger way overhead which 
called forth a loud protest from a citizen in the Adver- 
tiser, viz. : "Have you ever visited the Mall ; have you 
ever inhaled the Western breeze, fragrant with perfume, 
refreshing every sense, and invigorating every nerve ? 
What think you of converting the beautiful sheet of 
water which skirts the Common into an empty mud 
basin, reeking with filth, abhorrent to the smell, and 
distasteful to the eye? By every god of sea, lake, or 
fountain, it is incredible." 



1815 Monday, February 13. 

Josiah P. Quincy, says, "When the news of peace 



BOSTOI^ COMMO]^ 131 

came it was just after breakfast we set forth in the 
sleigh and went through Cornhill, then past the Com- 
mon and through the Main Street down to the ISTorth 
End. The streets were crowded with people, flags 
waved from every house and across the streets. 



Febeuary 13. 
General Jackson's victory at ^ew Orleans was cele- 
brated by the firing of salutes from the Forts and the 
artillery on the Common. 



September. 
A terrific gale destroyed a great many trees with 
several of the Paddock elms on the Common. 



October 22. 
Many townspeople went to the Common and into the 
country to get fresh air on account of a stringent Sun- 
day law. 



Beacon Street was widened, 17 feet, by cutting off a 
strip of land at the State House, and, 20 feet, at a point 
at Belknap Street. 



Hancock Avenue was sometimes called Cato Alley 
affording, by mutual consent with the authorities, a 
convenient access, to and fro, across the Common. 



1816 January 4. 

Rev. John Lathrop, D. D., Second Church, Boston, 

died, and was buried in the Granary Burying Ground. 



Several paths were laid out and improved on the 
Common. 



132 BOSTON COMMON" 

Beacon Street Mall was laid out. 



1817 March 13. 

Henry Phillips was hung, on Boston Neck, for the 
murder of Gaspard Denegri, near Roebuck Tavern, in 
January. "After the cap was drawn over his eyes he 
sang a song of three verses, dropped the handkerchief, 
and was launched into eternity." 



March 13. 
The gallows were moved to the South End, near Gar- 
land Street, on the Neck. 



July. 

President Monroe visited Boston when the address of 
welcome was delivered by Harrison Gray Otis after 
which he was escorted by a grand procession through 
the city. The Boston Commercial (of the 3d) says, 
the procession passed "through Boylston Street, to an 
opening in the Common, between the Mall and Gun- 
house, through lines formed by the scholars of the 
different schools in Boston, attended by their several 
instructors, northwardly, over the Common, towards 
the State House, to a point opposite the west end of 
Winter Street," the number of spectators on the streets, 
and on the Common exceeded any reception since that 
of the "Sainted Washington." 



August 22. 
John Quincy Adams, says in his Memoirs that after 
an absence of eight years from Boston, having been in 
Europe and in Washington, he walked "round the city," 
with his friend Mr. Foster, observing with pleasure 
the masses of new buildings on the Central Wharf, New 



BOSTON COMMON 133 

Cornhill and Common Street, and that the only altera- 
tion causing him regret was the demolition of Beacon 
Hill. 



September 7. 
An earthquake, which threw down several chimneys, 
was felt on the Common. 



December 5. 
The Book of Days, by Harriet Porter Beecher, de- 
scribes Litchfield, Connecticut, saying, its beauty con- 
sists in the wide streets shaded, on either side, by fine 
trees excelling in pleasantness any she had ever seen 
except on Boston Mall. 



A "Description of Boston," by Shaw, contains a 
View of Boston Common. 



1818 May 10. 

Paul Revere, died at his home on Charter Street, 
Boston, and was buried, in the "Revere Family Tomb" 
in the Granary Burying Ground. The grave is situated 
in the rear of the centre and where a low raised stone 
bears the simple inscription : "Paul Revere, born in 
Boston, January, 1735, died May, 1818." He was 
intimately acquainted with James Otis, John Adams, 
Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren and other Revolution- 
ary patriots and shared their fame. 



May 20. 

A small fish sensation, near the Frog Pond, on the 
Common. 



134 BOSTON COMMON^ 

1819 Febrfaey 18. 

Four pirates, John Williams, John P. Rog, Niles 
Peterson and Francis Frederick, were hung on Boston 
UvTeck. 



William Johnson was sent to State Prison for life. 
He decoyed a countryman to the Common under pre- 
tence of selling his squirrels and then robbed him of 
them. 

The five rope walks were burned on the Common. 

James Gordon Bennett, a rising young journalist was 
often seen walking on the Common. 



1820 May 25. 

Michael Powers was hung for murder on the Neck. 



June 25. 
Holmes and two other pirates were hung on the Neck. 



Dr. Hale, who "playing soldier" in what was left of 
the old redoubts on Flagg-Staff Hill also describes the 
Common at about this time, viz. : ( 1 ) A pasture for 
cows, (2) a playground for children, (3) a place for 
beating carpets, (4) a training ground for the militia. 



The "City Criers House" where criers, with bells in 
hand, went forth through the streets of the town and 
across the Common. 

Among the prominent residents who, at this time or 
subsequently, lived on Summer Street, or in the neigh- 
borhood, some of whom had died, were : John Adams, 
Charles Francis Adams, Brooks Adams, Samson Reed, 



BOSTON COMMOIvT 135 

Samuel Salisbury, Frederick William Geyer, Samuel 
P. Gardner, Ebenezer Preble, Nathaniel I. Bowditch, 
Rev. William Emerson, Dr. Nathaniel Frothingham, 
Robert C. Winthrop, Drs. Harwood and Jacob Bigelow, 
Rev. Drs. Frothingham and Kirkland, Chief Justice 
Isaac Parker, the distinguished surgeon Henry J. 
Bigelow, Rev. Rufus Ellis, Rev. William B. O. Pea- 
body and George Cabot. All were often seen on the 
Common. 



Washington, Little and Flagstaff Hills on the Com- 



mon. 



1821 August 8. 

The West Point Cadets were encamped on the Com- 
mon. 



The opening of the Mill Dam, on Western Avenue, 
drew an immense concourse to the Common. 



1822 Makch 7. 

Gilbert Close and Samuel Clisby were hung on the 
Necklands near the burying ground. Their offense 
was highway robbery, they robbed Ezra Haynes, a citi- 
zen, on Cambridge Street, on the tenth of August. 



Maech 7. 
Great excitement was caused by graves robbed on the 
Neck. 



April 25. 
Samuel Green was hung, on the Necklands, for kill- 
ing "Billy" Williams in November, The murder was 
committed in the State Prison. 



136 BOSTON COMMOIST 

Apkil 25. 
Gallows were erected, on the ISTeck, until the close of 
the year. 



June 15. 
As the firing of cannon, on the Common, disturbed 
the surrounding neighborhood, the Columhian Centinel, 
says, a request was sent to the Commanders to "avoid 
all unnecessary use of the Malls in the performance of 
their military duties ; and that all firing on training day 
should be done as remotely from public highways as 

can be and that this part of military duty should 

be done south-westerly to the great tree." 



An ordinance prohibiting the shaking of carpets on 
the Common drew forth a newspaper article, by Edward 
Everett Hale, entitled "The Last Shake." 



When Boston became a city the charter protected the 
Common from either sale or lease. 



1823 Maech 24. 

The lands of the Public Garden were offered for sale. 



May 13. 

It was required that all cows, roaming at large, must 
wear a "Tally" on the neck, and that no person should 
pasture more than one cow on the Common. 



May 23. 

John Phillips, First Mayor of Boston, died, and was 

buried in the Granary Burying Ground. He was 

father of the great anti-slavery orator, Wendell Phillips. 



BOSTOI^ COMMOI^ 137 

The sympathetic feelings of Charles Sumner are 
shown by an incident when a ragged beggar boy, with 
basket on his arm, passed a group of boj^s playing on the 
Common, when one asked him — "Who patched your 
pants?" "My mother!" replied the boy. "Well you 
had better go home and tell her to mend your jacket !" 
A few moments after the beggar boy had passed along, 
Sumner had left the group and was seen walking away. 
Another boy, who had slipped out of the party, met him, 
crying, and asked — "What's the matter, Charlie ?" 
when Sumner replied, — "How unkind it was to ridicule 
a poor beggar boy because he wore ragged clothes, per- 
haps his parents can not afford to buy him better ones !" 



Paddock's Mall was ordered to be paved with cobble 
stones. 



1824 June 29. 

Charles Street Mall was laid out. 



July 7. 
Just before two o'clock the alarm bells drew the en- 
gines to a fire in Mr. Bryant's new house, carpenter 
shops and other premises on Charles and Chestnut 
Streets. The wind blew a hurricane as the fire was 
watched by many persons on the Beacon Street Mall 
where women and children at a moment's warning were 
compelled to flee for safety. Many household appur- 
tenances, from kitchen utensils to elaborate carpets and 
handsome ornaments were hurried to the Common to 
escape the flames and from some houses which they 
did not reach. Seven dwellings were burned on Beacon 
Street, and it was only owing to the open space of the 
Common that the southern portion of the city was saved. 



138 BOSTOI^T COMMON 

Tuesday^ Augijst 22. 
General Lafayette visited Boston when the streets, 
through which the procession walked, were gajlj dec- 
orated with French and American flags. The General 
was presented by Governor Eustis to Mayor Qiiincy 
and a charming incident of the reception was "the sing- 
ing of the Marseillaise by a throng of school children on 
the Common." 



The Columbian Centinel, (of the 25th), says: " — 
passed through the Common on which were placed, 
extending the whole length of it, in two lines, the pupils 
of the Public Schools, the misses principally dressed in 
white, and the lads in blue coats and white underclothes, 
each bearing a portrait of Lafayette on their breasts, 
stamped on ribbons. They exceeded 2500 in number. 
— On passing the line a beautiful little girl, about six 
years old, stepped forth, and begged leave to address 
the General. She was handed to the Mayor, and by 
him to the General, who saluted her. She then de- 
livered a short address, took a wreath of flowers from 
her head, and put it on his head. The General made 
her a very affectionate reply, and placed the wreath in 
his carriage. 

There were over seventy thousand spectators. 

Cards of admission were required for the various 
reviews, on the Common, when people entered Beacon 
Street and the Frog Pond. 

Lafayette, while in Boston, stayed at a boarding 
house that stood on the site of the first Almshouse. 

The Boston Monthly Magazine contains an article by 
"A Boston Visitor," who says: "repaired to the Com- 
mon, so famous for its command of picturesque scenery 
— there I saw another and larger, collection of people. 



BOSTOISr COMMOI^ 139 

The green, from the State House to the Mall, was full 
of troops and spectators. The Mall was covered with 
Masons, deeply arranged in close order, and every street 
and habitation in the vicinity was crowded with a dense 
population. About ten, the Grand Lodge and Royal 
Arch Chapter entered the Mall and joined the rest of 

the fraternity Scarcely were these fraternities 

organized into a procession, under the shady trees of 
the Mall, before several handsome companies of light 
infantry, on the Common, opened to the right and left, 
— the troop of horse rode rapidly past them and a num- 
ber of carriages approached the avenue. The bugle, 
horns and drums resounded, and the whole band of 
music performed a salute as Lafayette, drawn in a 
barouche, with four white horses, and a number of cars 
carrying distinguished individuals and old soldiers of 

Bunker Hill passed along The survivors of 

Bunker Hill were about forty At last, an excel- 
lent band of music struck up a National air which dis- 
sipated my serious meditations. The procession moved, 
and successive bodies, in deep array, marched from the 
Mall to the consecrated spot." 

Many years afterward Wendell Phillips, who, a boy 
of fourteen, stood, with the school children, on the Com- 
mon, alluded to the occasion in a charming address to 
other school children who were gathered in Music Hall, 
viz. : — ''I was a little boy in a class in the Latin School 
at the time and we were turned out on yonder Common 
in a grand procession, at nine o'clock in the morning. 
And for what ? ]**[ot to hear music — no ; but for some- 
thing better than music, that thrilled more than 
eloquence — a sight which should live in the memory 
forever, the best sight which Boston ever saw — the wel- 
come of Lafayette on his return to this country, after 



140 BOSTO]^ COMMO]^ 

an absence of a score of years. I can boast boys and 
girls, more than you. I can boast that these eyes have 
beheld the hero of three revolutions, this hand has 
touched the right hand that held up Hancock and 
Washington. Not all this glorious celebration can 
equal that glad reception of the Nation's benefactor by 
all that Boston could offer him — a sight of her children. 
It was a long procession, and, unlike other processions 
we started punctually at the hour published. They 
would not let us wander about and did not wish us to 
sit down — I then received my first lesson in hero- 
worship. I was so tired after four hours' waiting I 
could scarcely stand; but when I saw him — that 
glorious old Frenchman; — I could have stood until 
today. 

Lafayette, when he visited Boston, said "The world 
should never forget the spot where once stood 'Liberty 
Tree,' so famous in your annals." 



The Julien Llouse, in Milk Street, stood, an an- 
tiquated building for over thirty years. It was a noted 
restaurant and derived its name from its proprietor, 
Mon. Jean-Baptiste Gilbert Payplat dis Julien. Many 
a Bostonian having partaken of a breakfast or luncheon 
afterwards walked down to the Common. 



Band concerts were given, on the Common, during 
the summer months. 



The city purchased the ilatlands, at the bottom of the 
Common, for $50,000. 



President Quincy planted two rows of elms greatly 
adding to the beauty of the Park Street Mall. 



BOSTOIT COMMOlSr 141 

The Charles Street Mall was completed during the 
first year of the administration of Mayor Quincy — 
the elder. 



1825 May. 

The Ghingo was planted "on each side of the Neck." 



June 17. 
The semi-centennial celebration of the battle of 
Bunker Hill was one of the grandest events that ever 
occurred in Boston. General Lafayette sat on the plat- 
form, with other dignitaries, listened to the eloquent 
oration of Daniel Webster. The crowd was great. 
One authority says that "everything that has wheels, 
and everything tliat has legs, used them to get to 
Boston. The head of the civil and military proces- 
sion reached the site of the monument — Charlestown 
Square — before the rear had started from the Common. 
At four o'clock the distinguished guests mounted on a 
platform in the middle of the Frog I^ond, and an im- 
mense concourse covered the slopes, of the Common, 
listening to addresses from Mayor Josiah Quincy, Jr., 
and other speakers. The close of the day was feelingly 
alluded to in the words : "The sun was just sinking 
below the horizon, and its last rays tinged the summit 
of the watery column, the bells began to ring, cannon 
were fired, and rockets streamed across the sky. To 
the multitude, around, the scene was one of intense 
interest and excitement, which it is impossible to 
describe, but which no one can forget. After the first 
moment of surprise most of the spectators looked around 
upon the neighbors, some laughed aloud, the men swung 
their hats and shouted, and some men wept." 



142 BOSTOIT COMMON 

The remains of Major General Joseph Warren, 
identified, (by a nephew — Dr. John C. Warren — and 
Paul Revere) "by the eye tooth and the fatal bullet 
behind the left ear" were placed in a hard wood box 
and removed from the Minot Tomb, in the Granary 
Burying Ground, to the Warren Tomb in St. Paul's 
Church, Boston. 



1826 Makch 3. 

John Holland was hung, on the l^eck, for the murder 
of a man named Houghton, a watchman. 



May. 
Park Street Mall laid out. 



May. 
Frog Pond curbed and improved. 



August. 
Puneral obsequies for the death of Presidents Adams 
and Jefferson drew great crowds to the streets and 
Common. 



October 13. 
John Tileston (Master Johnny) a well-known school 
master, especially to all the boys and girls, whose school 
was located on the west corner of Prince and Margaret 
Streets (which old wooden building, turned into a 
grocery is still standing) died, in his 92nd year and 
was buried in the Granary Burying Ground. His 
portrait hangs in the collection at the Boston Museum. 



October 30. 
Macready the great tragedian says, in his Reminis- 



BOSTON^ COMMOIT 143 

cences — "led me to Boston, when upon the same terms, 
£50 per night, I represented the same plays, using my 
leisure days in making acquaintances with Bunker's or 
rather Breed's Hill, Faneuil Hall, the Capitol, the Com- 
mon and the various institutions and sites that laid 
claim to my attention. 



The poplar trees, which had long disfigured the Park 
Street Mall, were cut down and replaced by elms. 



1827 Maech 1. 

Governor Christopher George died, aged 68, and was 
buried in the Granary Burying Ground. "His mind 
was acute and discriminating ; his morals pure ; his 
manners dignified and elegant." 



April 28. 
A new regulation was made compelling constables to 
patrol the Common in the day time. 



May 18. 
Liquor was forbidden to be sold, on the Common, on 
public days. 



June 15. 
An obelisk, of Quincy granite, was erected in memory 
of the parents of Benjamin Franklin, in the Granary 
Burying Ground. A bronze plate on the front side 
bears the name Franklin and a tablet sunk underneath, 
revives the inscription on the original stone erected by 
Benjamin Franklin, viz. : "Josiah Franklin and Abiah 
his wife, lie here interred. They lived lovingly to- 
gether in wedlock fifty-five years, and without estate, or 
any gainful employment, by constant labor and honest 



144 BOSTON COMMON 

industry, maintained a large family comfortably, and 
brought up thirteen children and seven grandchildren 
reputably. From this instance. Reader, Be encouraged 
to diligence in thy calling, and distrust not Providence. 
He was a pious and prudent man. She a discreet and 
virtuous woman. Their youngest son, in filial regard 
to their memory, places this stone. J. F., born 1655, 
died 1744, a. e. 89. A. F., born 1667, died 1752, a. e. 
85." 

And also: "The original inscription having been 
nearly obliterated a number of citizens erected this 
monument as a mark of respect for the illustrious 
author MDCCCXXVII." The corner stone contains 
an inscribed silver plate, a "Franklin" with several 
other medals, the silver plate reads : "This monument 
was erected over the remains of the parents of Benjamin 
Franklin, by the citizens of Boston, from respect to the 
private character and public services of the illustrious 
patriot and philosopher, and for the many tokens of his 
affectionate attachment to his native town." 



The obelisk was unveiled with appropriate cere- 
monies. 



August 11. 
Palm leaf hats were first worn and frequently seen 
on the Common. 



October 31. 
A marble statue of Washington was placed in the 
State House. 



BOSTO^T cOMMOIsr 145 

December 17. 
Thirteen acres of land were reserved for a nursery 
on the Necklands. 



Cows were pastured on the ITeck, at eight dollars for 
the season. 



1829 April 22. 

A new ordinance read that Common Street, from 

Court, by the Common, to Washington, should be 
called Tremont Street. 



July 4. 

Gambling and liquor stands were driven away, by 
Constables, from the Common. 



July 4. 
The day was quietly celebrated — "On the Common 
no liquor, no booths and no people. At the Washing- 
ton Gardens, afternoon. Orator Emmons held forth in 
flights of passing eloquence and rhyme, which, with a 
nondescript fish, were all to be heard and seen for four 
pence." 



December. 
Excitement caused by grave robberies on the l^eck. 



On Election day rows of stands ran beside the wooden 
fence from Park to West Street, and even farther, on 
the Common, where beverages and eatables were bought 
from white and colored stand keepers. Oysters in 
saucers that cost fo' pence ha' penny (six and a quarter 
cents) were sold, besides lobsters, candy, cakes, dough- 
nuts, gingernuts, lemonade, spruce beer, ginger beer, 



146 BOSTON COMMO:^ 

etc. Colored women, wearing gaj colored handker- 
chiefs tied around their heads, resembling typical 
Southern negresses, pushed hand carts containing an 
ample supply of cakes, buns, jumbles, waffles, seed 
cakes, President biscuit, baked beans, hot brown bread, 
etc., about the Common. 



William Lloyd Garrison while confined in a Balti- 
more jail during that period of festivity called "Elec- 
tion Week!" showed his admiration for Boston in writ- 
ing some verses about the Common. 



1830 May 10. 

The city authorities passed a resolution forbidding 
cows on the Common. 



May. 

The Society for the Suppression of Intemperance 
offered a petition to the city for a band of music, on 
the Common, during the afternoon and evening of the 
Fourth of July — "Such a practice having, in their judg- 
ment, a tendency to promote order and suppress an in- 
clination to riot and intemperance." The petition was 
granted. 



May. 
The Ghingo was planted in the Granary Burying 
Ground. 



May. 
Many trees were planted in the Granary Burying 
Ground. 



BOSTOIT COMMON" 147 

July 7. 

Tlie Common : "Under Mayor Quincy there were 

"no tables groaning under the weight of ponderous 

hams and tender pigs, — no barrows, — no dice tables, — 

no wheels of fortune, — no casting at the black joke." 



September 17. 
Josiah Quincy, in an address to the citizens of Bos- 
ton, at the close of the second centennial settlement of 
the city referred to "The lofty heights, that the march of 
progress has obliterated, where from the lone cottage of 
Blackstone smoke was seen ascending out of the 
chimney and where the Beacon fire rallied the neighbor- 
ing population when any danger threatened the metrop- 
olis. 



September 17. 
The 200th Anniversary of the settlement of Boston; 
pupils and instructors from all the schools met on the 
Common, at nine o'clock to take part in exercises. 



No cows were permitted to graze on the Common. 



Edward Everett Hale, in a beautiful story of this 
period, tells of several boys watching a fire, just above 
the Frog Pond, on a winter's day. One boy, handed a 
hatchet, is told to go and fetch two, or three, more 
cedars ! The boys are joined by other comrades, one 
with a leather satchel, hung on his back, with three 
flounders. Two more came with red skins full of 
clams, all being cooked when the stones were hot enough. 
Another brought two lobsters which were put in the 
pot hanging over the fire. An Indian boy, Charles 
King, — with basket slung on his back, now joined the 



148 BOSTOI:^ C0MM0:N' 

party. He had found the place before while fishing 
and had brought them to a secluded spot. The fire 
started, the boys, who had begged a half holiday, ran 
off to play returning to eat dinner which was eaten 
under a great boulder, slate stones and clams were used 
for plates, two or three Sheffield whittles for knives and 
fingers supplying the place of forks. Water was drawn 
through the ice on the Frog Pond. A game of ball 
unearthed a red fox from his hole when all the boys 
started in pursuit and, covering a large space found 
another shelter where he was seized and poked with 
sticks by the leaders, while the smaller boys, out of 
breath, had returned to the fire on the Common. 



The Parks, or Malls, on Charles, Beacon, Park and 
Tremont Streets, contain 550 trees. 



There is a small marble monument and some grave- 
stones on the Common Burial Ground. Many of the 
graves are those of Roman Catholics. 



It was proposed to change the name of the Common 
and Malls to Washington Park. This was met by a 
l©ud public protest. 



1831 August 23. 

Funeral obsequies for the death of President Monroe 
drew great crowds to the streets and Common. 



September. 
Some constables patrolled the Common by day. 



BOSTON COMMOi^T 149 

November. 
The inside fence, on the east side, was removed from 
the Common. 



1832. April. 

Dead cats and old boots made an unsightly appear- 
ance on the Common. 



1833 June 1. 

A fight between constables and gamblers occurred on 
the Common. 



W^- "■ June- 

President Jackson was honored by a large reception. 
The Columbian Centinel (21st) says: "The proces- 
sion will move through Washington Street and Boylston 
Street to the Common, when the instructors and pupils 
of the Public Schools will be placed in line, in front of 
the Fire Department. On arriving at the bottom of 
the Common the cavalcade and carriages will proceed 
up Tremont Street as far as St. Paul's, while the re- 
mainder of the procession crosses the Common to the 
head of Winter Street." 



October 22. 
Henry Clay visited Boston and the Common. 



November 13. 

The great meteoric shower was seen in Boston and 
by any person who chanced to be on the Common late 
at night. It looked as if "all the stars were falling- 
down." 

A little Boston boy, awaking at night, thought that 
the stars were all falling and told his father who, think- 



150 BOSTON COMMON 

ing he had been dreaming, bade him, "go to sleep !" 
The boy had seen the meteoric shower. 



The Old Tree on the Common measures 24 feet in 
circumference at the base and 17.6 feet above the 
ground. 



America and the Americans — inscribed to Lafayette 
by "A Citizen of the world" London, says: "Boston, 
which has been founded two centuries was originally 
called Tremont, or Tre-mountain, from the circum- 
stance of its being situated on three hills. The city is 
almost surrounded by water; the connection with the 
main land being formed by a narrow strip called the 
Neck. The communication, in other directions, is kept 
up by timber bridges ; one of which is no less than 1300 

yards in length. The older streets are irregular 

In front of the State House is a park, many acres in 
extent, which, in colonial times, bore the name of the 
Common ; but having been railed and ornamented, is 
now dignified by the title of Mall. Here the British 
troops were for some time encamped, and near a huge 
and ancient elm, which still spreads its venerable arms, 
are the remains of a redoubt, thrown up at that period. 
Among the number of mansions, which form one side of 
the streets bounding through beautiful verdant en- 
closure, that of the celebrated patriot, Hancock, is 
distinguished." 



1834 May. 

Many trees were planted, by Superintendent Hughes, 
on the Neck. 



BOSTON COMMOlvT 151 

July 4. 

A feast celebrated the christening of the Whig party 
when two thousand persons sat under a tent on the 
Common. 

July 4. 

A large Whig Festival was held on the Common when 
a Pavilion to hold 2500 persons was erected on the Mall. 
The Columbian Centinel (9th) says: "The interior of 
the Pavilion was decorated by National flags, patriotic 
banners, pendents, festoons and a profusion of flowers, 
and the revered name of Washington and Lafayette, of 
Hancock and Adams, and other heroes and statesmen, 
of Revolutionary memory, appeared conspicuous. The 
centre of the Pavilion was supported by a grand Liberty 
Pole eighty feet in heighth." 



July 31. 
Durant — an areonaut — made an ascension from the 
Common. 



September 6. 
Funeral solemnities for the death of Lafayette drew 
great crowds to the streets and Common. 



Emerson, in one of his "Journals," says : "I rejoice 
in Time. I do not cross the Common without a wild 
poetic delight, notwithstanding the prose of my 
demeanor. Thank God I live in this country." 

And again: "Knowledge transfers the censorship 
from the State House to the reason of every citizen and 
compels every man to mount guard over himself, and 
puts to shame and remorse for sergeants and maces." 



152 BOSTON COMMON 

1835 May 8. 

The hill of Gardner Greene, Esq., was demolished 
when the Ghingo Tree (China) was removed from 
Pemberton Hill to the Beacon Street Mall. 



July 4. 
Lauriatt — aeronaut — made an ascension from the 
Common. 



July 4. 
Fireworks on the Common were spoiled by the rain. 



October 21. 
William Lloyd Garrison edited an abolition paper 
called the Liheratoi\ This outspoken sheet had caused 
much criticism when it was declared that Southern mer- 
chants would not trade in Boston if a paper, like the 
Liberator, was permitted to attack and malign their 
institutions. A mob threatened to seize the editor and 
suppress the paper ! A large crowd assembled on the 
northwest corner of Court and Washington Streets, 
where they were addressed by Mayor Lyman (whom it 
was thought should have ordered out the military) from 
the steps of the building. He advised them all, quietly, 
to depart to their homes, though about seventy-five men 
marched, in single file, upstairs to the editor's ofiice on 
the third floor, they soon returned crying out that 
Garrison Avas not there, but had retreated out the rear 
doors into State Street where he was found, and now, 
pursued by the mob, escaped into the Old State House 
amid threats to "seize him !' "lynch him !" Garrison 
was finally got into a coach and driven to the jail on 
Leverett Street. The mob dispersed in less than an hour 
some walking about the streets, others loitering on the 
Common. 



BOSTOIT COMMON 153 

Tlie buildings, standing on the Common, were disap- 
pearing one after another. 



The City Tavern was a rendezvous for the theatrical 
companies, and many an actor was seen lounging, dozing 
or smoking in the bar-room, or walking on the Common, 
during the day. 



The American House was opened and on the list of 
guests are found the names of Ralph Waldo Emerson 
and Walt Whitman both of whom once walked, arm in 
arm, on the Common, discussing the feasibility of pub- 
lishing Leaves of Grass. 



The Common was the great feature and pride of 
Boston where strangers paused to look with expressions 



of admiration and delight. 



1836 July 4. 

A feature of the day's celebration was the liberty of 
the Common to colored people, who, up to this time, 
were only allowed its advantages on ''Nigger 'Lection 
day." 



A large number of school girls dressed in white, 
carried moss, baskets in various designs, which were 
afterwards sold, the sales one day amounting to $1,000. 



July 13. 
People walking on the Common were reminded of a 
change when the church bells rang at one o'clock, instead 
of twelve. 



154 BOSTON COMMON 

July. 

Funeral honors for the death of President Madison 
caused many to gather on the streets and Common. 



August. 
Boylston Street Mall was laid out. 



August. 
Some boys were fined for bathing in the Frog Pond 
on the Common. 



Colonel Henry Lee who was graduated at Harvard 
in the class of this year, referred long afterwards to 
"the fortification on the Common that was levelled while 
I was in College." 



The Boylston Street Mall was extended through the 
burial ground where two rows of tombs were closed. - 



Impressions of America — (1833-'34, 35) by Tyrone 
Power, Esq., vol. 1, London, says: — "The approach to 
Boston, either by sea or land, gives to it an extremely 
bold and picturesque character. It is spread over a 
series of lofty heights, nearly insulated, and is sur- 
rounded by a marshy level running from the highlands 
on the main, to which the city is united by a very nar- 
row isthmus to the southward. The lofty dome of its 
State House, and the numerous spires and towers of its 
churches, rising between two and three hundred feet 
above the surrounding level of either laud or sea, com- 
bine to produce a coup d'oeil more imposing than is pre- 
sented by either New York or Philadelphia. 

The streets of the city generally are narrow and 
irregular, following the windings of the lofty hills on 



BOSTON COMMON 155 

which it is spread, and having more the air of an old 
English country town than any place I have yet seen in 

the country The most modern quarter of the city 

lies to the west, surrounding the park, or common, as it 
is termed, — an ancient reserve of some sixty acres, the 
property of the citizens, beautifully situated and taste- 
fully laid out. It is bordered on the lower side by a 
mall of venerable looking elms ; has a pretty pond of 
water under a rising ground near its centre, the remains 
of an English fort ; and open to the front is the Charles 
River. On three sides, this common is flanked by very 
fine streets, having houses of the largest class, well built, 
and kept with a right English spirit as far as regards 
the scrupulous cleanliness of the entrances, areas, and 
windows. The English are a window cleaning race, 
and nowhere have I observed this habit so closely in- 
herited as here. Overlooking this common, too, is the 
State House, and on a line with it, the mansion of its 
patriot founder, Mr. Hancock, a venerable stone built 
edifice, raised upon a terrace withdrawn a few yards 
from the line of the present street. The generous 
character of its first owner has made this house an object 
of great interest, and it is to be hoped the citizens will 
look carefully to its preservation as a worthy fellow to 
*Eaneuil Hall, for by no one was the 'cradle of Liberty' 
more carefully tended than by the owner of 'Hancock 
House.' " 



June 14. 
The first parade of the ISTational Lancers caused great 
crowds on the streets and Common. 



*Foot Note: "Faneuil Hall, so-called, the old Town Hall — a 
spot dedicated by the Bostonians to the recollections of their 
country's first struggle for independence, and greatly venerated." 



156 BOSTON COMMOIT 

June 30. 
A new flag staff was erected, near the Old Elm, on 
the Common. 



June. 
A riot called the "Broad Street Riot" occurred which 
was caused bj the firemen attempting to pass through 
the carriages of an Irish funeral proceeding to the grave. 
A general fight ensued when sticks and stones were used 
and many were seriously bruised, but no lives were lost. 
The military suppressed the riot which had already 
grown large and formidable. The whole Fire Depart- 
ment was disbanded as a result of the melee. Groups 
loitered on the Common. 



July 5. 
It was decided to move the edge stones about the Frog 
Pond. 



September 12. 
A general military review took place, on the Com- 
mon, when the Montgomery Guards came, causing fire 
companies to leave the line. The review was postponed. 



Octobee 20. 
Lands were granted by the authorities to Horace 
Gray for the Public Garden. 



October 30. 
The city was visited by a deputation composed of 
delegates of four different tribes — the Sacs and Foxes 
with Black Hawk, and the Sioux and Iowa, who came 
to Boston and erected a camp on the Common. During 
their stay they gave a war dance when they appeared 



BOSTON COMMON 157 

dressed in the skins of wild animals with horns, and, 
wielding pointed weapons, created much alarm by their 
grotesque manoeuvres and frantic shrieks, among the 
70,000 spectators. When they broke camp they left 
the city in open barouches, the most hideous sitting in 
a conspicuous position and wielding a war weapon. 



November 2. 
Emerson, in one of his "'Journals," says, "Immense 
curiosity in Boston to see the Delegation of the Sacs and 
Foxes, of the Sioux and the loways. I saw the Sacs 
and Foxes at the State House on Monday, about thirty 
in number. Edward Everett addressed them, and they 
replied. One chief said 'They had no land to put their 
words upon, but they were nevertheless true.' One 
chief wore the skin of a buffalo's head with the horns 
attached on his head, others birds with outspread wings. 
Immense breadth of shoulder and very muscular per- 
sons. Our Picts were so savage in their head-dress 
and nakedness that it seemed as if the bears and cata- 
moimts had sent a deputation. They danced a war- 
dance on the Common, in the centre of the greatest 
cj'owd ever seen on that area. The governor cautioned 
us of the gravity of the tribe, and that we should beware 
of any expression of the ridiculous, and the people all 
seemed to treat their guests gingerly, as the keepers of 
lions and juguars do those creatures whose taming is 
not quite yet trustworthy. Certainly it is right and 
natural that the Indian should come and see the civil 
white men, but this was hardly genuine, but a show ; so 
we were not parties, but spectators. Therefore a man 
looks up and laughs and meets the eyes of some by- 
stander who also laughs. Keokuk, Black Hawk, Roar- 



158 BOSTOI^ COMMON 

ing Thunder. At Faneuil Hall they built a partition 
between the two tribes because the tribes are at war." 

The tribes at war were the Sioux, Sacs and Foxes. 

And again : 

"George Bradford compares the happiness of Gore 
Ripley riding the horse to plough, with boys of Boston 
of his age, who are too old to play on the Common, and 
who can only dress and fix straps to their pantaloons." 

Christopher Gore Ripley was a son of Rev. Samuel 
Ripley, and, afterwards. Chief Justice of Minnesota. 



1838 July 4. 

Hawthorne, in "American ISTote Book," says, "Booths 

on the Common, selling ginger bread, sugar plums, and 

confectionery, spruce beer, lemonade on the top 

of one of the booths, a monkey with a tail two or three 

feet long There are boys going about with molasses 

candy, almost melted down in the sun. Shows : a 
mammoth rat, a collection of pirates, murderous and 

the like, in wax One or two old salts, rather the 

worse for liquor, in general the people are temperate." 



July 4. 
Emerson says, in his "Journals" — "The Fourth of 
July, red with artillery; the Common full of children, 
the woods full of gunners, and at night the sky crackling 
with rockets, even down to the Election, miscalled by 
wanton boys 'Xigger 'Lection.' I have kindly vision 
out in these lone fields of marching ranks with red 
facings and white shoes, of boys in vacation; and on 
such a day as that, I still feel a gayer air." 



July 24. 
A great reception and dinner was given to Daniel 



BOSTON COMMOI^ 159 

Webster at Faneuil Hall, some afterwards walking down 
to the Common. 



Harriet Martineau, in "Retrospect of Western 
Travel," says "The ceremonial of Commencement Week 
(Harvard) was now over; but not the bustle and gaiety. 
The remaining two days were spent in drives to Boston 
and to Bunker Hill, and in dinner and evening visits 
to Judge Story's to some of the professors, and to Mr. 
Everett's, since governor of the State." The Common 
was visited. 



The shops in Boston are very pretty though they do 
not equal those on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. 
ShojDjoers often crossed the Common. 



Luncheon parties with ham, cheese, beer, crackers and 
apples would often sit under the trees on the Common. 



"Eeminiscences of a Walker Around Boston," says, 
"The three hilled city, with its picturesque inequalities 
of ground, its glittering spires, its tufts of trees (alas! 
too rare!) and the State House, diverted by distance, 
of its architectural errors, crowning the whole, and all 
reflected upon the clear waters of the bay beneath our 
feet, now brimming with an overflowing tide, and seen 
through the haze of a summer's day, seems like a scene 
of fairyland." 



The Wishing Stone, near the Beacon Mall, was 
blasted and taken away. Many a child, according to 
the superstition, has w^alked around it nine times and 
then, climbing to the top, would make a wish. 



160 BOSTON COMMON 

A great want, often expressed, was for a fountain 
and shrubbery. 

The United States Gazette prints a series of letters 
entitled "A Trip to Boston" by Enoch Cobb Wines, who 
says : "In this cursory notice of some of the more 
striking features of Boston, it Avould be unpardonable 
to omit the 'Common,' as the public pleasure ground 
is here denominated. This is more than four times as 
large as any other similar place in the United States, 
embracing a little over fifty acres. It is enclosed by 
a fine iron railing, made in the most durable manner, 
and at an immense expense. Within and nearly con- 
tiguous, to this enclosure, there is a broad gravelled 
avenue, called the Mall. On one side of the Common 
this is shaded by three rows of lofty elms. The whole 
Common is thickly planted with trees of various kinds, 
most of them however, still young, and of course not 
yielding much shade. As nature in this region seems 
everywhere to have delighted in the line of beauty, the 
surface is broken into various knolls, and a small artifi- 
cial lake near the center seems to diversify the scene. 
The great wants of this promenade are of fountains 

and shrubbery 

"Sallying forth with the intent and under the cir- 
cumstances narrated in a previous communication, I 
first directed my steps toward the State House, and 
sought the prospect to be obtained from the top of its 
lofty dome. The view there revealed to the beholder 
would more than repay five times the present toil of 
the ascent. I would speak soberly and without exag- 
e-eration, and such I believe to be the declaration that 
there are few prospects either in the new world or the 
old, that can be compared with this. You know some- 
thing of my title to speak in this manner, but I must 



BOSTO^T COMMOI^ 161 

vindicate it to others. Permit me, then, to say that 
I have had some opportunity of observation in various 
parts of the globe. I have stood upon the keep of Caris- 
brooke Castle in the Isle of Wight, on the Leaning 
Tower of Pisa, on the dome of the Cathedral at 
Florence, on the summits of Gibralter, Vesuvius, the 
Acro-Corinthus, and the Acropolis of Sardis, and on 
many other elevated points in all the four continents 
of Europe, Asia, Africa and America ; and I declare to 
you that, to the best of my recollection, few of the pros- 
pects thus obtained are equal and fewer still superior, 
to that enjoyed from the State House at Boston."* 



1839 ]N'0VEMBER 19. 

A new iron fence was finished around the cemetery 
on the Common. 



The Public Garden began when its lands were laid 



out. 



The Botanic Garden (on the site of the Public Gar- 
den), w^as started by a number of citizens, including 
Horace Gray. The conditions of the grant were that 
no buildings, — except a greenhouse and tool house — 
should be erected on the grounds. The large building, 
once used by a circus — corner of Charles and Beacon 
Streets, was turned into a conservatory where were dis- 
played a fine collection of plants, and native and foreign 
singing birds. The building was destroyed by fire in 
a few years. 



*Foot Note: "I am told that an artist is employed in making a 
panorama of Boston from this point. I did not learn. If it is 
well executed and true to the original, it will be a picture worth 
seeing. 



162 BOSTO]Sr COMMON 

1840 April 19, 6 p. m. 

Hawthorne in "American Note Books," says, "I 
went out to walk about an hour ago, and found it very 
pleasant, though there was a somewhat cool wind. I 
went round and across the Common, and stood on the 
highest point of it, where I could see miles and miles 
into the country. Blessed be God for this green tract, 
and the view which it affords, whereby we poor citizens 
may be put in mind, sometimes, that all his earth is 
not composed of blocks of brick houses, and of stone or 
wooden pavements. Blessed be God for the sky too, 
though the smoke of the city may somewhat change its 
aspect, — but still it is better than if each street were 
covered with a roof. There were a good many people 
walking on the Mall — mechanics apparently, and shop- 
keepers' clerks, with their wives ; and boys were rolling 
on the grass, and I would have liked to lie down and 
roll too." 



July 4. 
A log cabin was erected as a political emblem on the 
Common. 



July 4. 
The new iron fence, extending between the Granary 
Burying Ground and Tremont Street, was finished. 



The oldest stone in the Granary Burying Ground is 
located west of the Franklin monument. The inscrip- 
tion reads, "Here lies ye body of John Wakefield, aged 
52 years, dec'd June ye 18th, 1667." 

The oldest horizontal slab, as well as the first poetical 
epitaph, marks the grave of Mrs. Hannah Allen, wife 



BOSTON COMMOI^ 163 

of Eev. James Allen, pastor of the First Cliiircli, who 

died February 26, 1776. 

"Stay thou, this grave that passeth by, 
And think how soon that thou may'st dye ; 
■ If sex, or age, or virtue bright 

Would have prolonged to thee it might. 
Though virtue made not death to stay. 
Yet turned it was to be their way. 
And if with them thou would'st be blest, 
Prepare to dye before thou rest." 



LETTEES FEOM NEW YOEK. 
By L. Maria Child (1852). 

1841 August 21. 

"I admit that Boston in her extensive and airy Com- 
mon, possesses a blessing unrivalled by any other city; 
but I am not the less disposed to be thankful for the 
circumscribed, but well shaded, limits of the Washing- 
ton Parade Grounds, and Union Park, with its nicelv 
trimmed circle of hedge, its well-rolled gravel walks, 
and its velvet greensward, shaven as smooth as a 
Quaker beau." (Vol. 1, Letter 11, pp. 18.) 



1841 Winter. 

The boys skated on the Frog Pond which they called 
Quincy Lake. 

April 21. 
Funeral honors for the death of President Harrison 
caused great crowds to assemble on the sidew^alks and 
on the Common. 



164 BOSTON" COMMOISr 

April 21. 
The death of President Harrison was commemorated 
by an immense procession. The Lancers, Infantry and 
Artillery all formed on the Common when "even the 
heavens seemed to contribute their share of the solemn 
feelings of the day." The Atlas, of the 22nd, says: 
"The Mall along Beacon Street was lined with scholars 
of the various schools, with their teachers, — the girls 
being on the upper and the boys on the lower side." 



October. 
Boston was "thrown into a most unusual state of ex- 
citement by the arrival of Lord Morpeth" who was 
feted by Charles Sumner and who was "afterward Earl 
of Carlisle and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He visited 
the Common. 



ISTOVEMBER 24. 

Prince De Joinville made a second visit to Boston 
and the Common. 



Three houses remain which have stood more than 
sixty years ; the Hancock House, the house at the bottom 
of the Mall, on Tremont Street, formerly owned by 
William Powell and now belonging to the heirs of 
William Poster, and a wooden building opposite the 
burying ground. They are seen from the centre of the 
Common. 



The Park Street church occupies the location of the 
old Granary on the Common. 



The principal schools, running back many years, were 
Proctor's (afterwards Carter's) School on Pemberton's 



BOSTON COMMON 165 

Hill; Tileston's in ISTorth School Street; Holbrook's in 
West Street, Paine's at the foot of (what is now), Mor- 
ton Place, and the Latin School, under Master Lovell. 
Boys from all these schools played on the Common. 



The Horse Pond on the Common, is filled up and the 
grass grown. 



1842 ' January 22. 

Dickens', in American jN^otes, says : — 

Boston, — "When I got into the streets upon this 
Sunday morning the air was so clear, the houses were 
so bright and gay ; the sign-boards were painted in such 
gaudy colors ; the gilded letters were so very golden ; 
the bricks were so very red ; the stone was so very white, 
the blinds and area railings were so very green, the 
knobs and plates upon the street doors so marvelously 
bright and twinkling, and all so slight and unsubstantial 
in appearance — that every thoroughfare in the city 
looked exactly like a scene in a pantomine 

"The State House is built upon a simimit of a hill, 
which rises gradually at first, and afterwards by a steep 
ascent, almost from the water's edge. In front is a 
green enclosure, called the Common. The site is beau- 
tiful and from the toj) there is a charming panoramic 
view of the whole town and neighborhood." 

During the visit of Dickens to Boston many beautiful 
young ladies residing in the elegant mansions, would 
surround the great novelist and playfully cut small 
pieces of fur from his seal skin overcoat, which they 
kept as souvenirs. 



166 BOSTON COMMOIsr 

Febeuary 1. 
Dickens had a reception at Papant's Hall and visited 
the Common. 



July 4, 

Eight thousand school children were said to have been 

on the Common where 100,000 persons saw the fire- 



works in the evening. 



July 27. 
There was a Brigade-muster on the Common when 
fourteen companies came from Boston. 



October 2. 
Buckingham's America (London) Vol. 1, says, "En- 
tered Boston The day was devoted to a review of 

the volunteer companies of the military of Boston, and 
as the weather was particularly fine, I went in the 
afternoon to the Common, where their exercises were 
conducted. This place for the number of men under 
arms was more favorable for display than either Hyde 
Park in London, or the Champs de Mars in Paris. The 
gently ascending slope of the ground, the fine grass, the 
surrounding avenues of trees, and the noble State House 
or Capitol, towering over the whole, with the fine ranges 
of buildings in Beacon Street, Park Street and Colon- 
nade Row, on three of its sides, and an open view of 
the sea and one of the bridges leading to the suburbs on 
the fourth, made up a beautiful picture." 



Children sailing boats on the Pond and watching 
their arrival on the opposite shore, also nurses with 
wicker carriages, were pleasant sights on the Common. 



BOSTO:?^ COMMON 16T 

The homes of the wealthy on Park and Beacon 
Streets, derive great advantage by their view of the 
Common. 



Church bells, calling people to worship at the Park 
Street Meeting house, caused many to walk across the 
Common. 



Laborers combing grass with their rakes on the Com- 



mon, in the spring. 



Many played on the Common who now sleep on its 
border. 



Land was offered for seventy-five cents a foot at the 
bottom of the Common and the land at the corner of 
Boylston and Tremont Streets^ — where the Masonic 
Temple now stands — at one dollar a foot, and, which, 
over thirty years afterwards could not be bought for 
ten dollars a foot. It was said at first that the land 
would never be any higher. 



The brick sidewalk, around the Common, is a fashion- 
able promenade and is even preferred to the Mall with 
its row of shade trees. 



It was proposed that the water dropping from the 
top of the State House be utilized into a fountain in 
the centre of the Frog Pond on the Common. The plan 
failed. 



The Boston Miscellany contains an engraving by 
Hammatt Billings, of the "Boston Common." 



168 BOSTON COMMON 

1843 Mat. 

The Ghingo was planted on the east side of the Com- 
mon. 



Jtjt.y. 

5319 visitors ascended to the top of the State House 
cupola for the view of the Common and the surrounding 
country. 



September 4. 
General Winfield Scott visited Boston and the Com- 
mon. 



September 20. 
Macreadj, in his "Reminiscences," again says : "The 
mate summoned me at early twilight with the news that 
we should soon approach the 'Boston Harbour Light' . . . 
with the clustered masses of the city's buildings in the 
central distance, surrounded by the dome of the State 
House and the obelisk of Bunker Hill." 



October 12. 
Richard M. Johnson (Tecumseh) visited Boston and 
the Common. 



The Gun House, on the Common, was removed to 
near Park Square. 



1844 May 10. 

A company of volunteers, comprising seventy-five 
men and officers, came from Vermont and encamped on 
the Common on their way to the Mexican war. 



BOSTON COMMON 169 

May. 
Trees were planted on the east side of the Common. 



July 4. 

The last display of fireworks occurred on the easterly 
side of the Common. 



September 19. 

The Whig Convention — 10,000 persons assembled on 
the Common. The Boston Daily Bee says, — 

"The procession got back on the Common about two 
o'clock, when the Convention was called to order by 
Hon. Daniel Webster, the President of the meeting, 

who then made a short address Great enthusiasm 

prevailed throughout the afternoon and the Convention 
adjourned at half-past five, to meet again by torch 
light, on the Common, in the evening." 

America and the American people — by Frederick 
Von Raumer, Professor of History in the University of 
Berlin says, — 

"Boston, Septembek 20. 

Yesterday we passed a day peculiarly American ; 
there being here a 'mass meeting of the Whigs.' The 
time from nine till one was spent by the companies in 
putting themselves in order, and marching in proces- 
sion through many parts of the city, where a stage had 
been erected for the orator of the day. The streets were 
ornamented with numerous banners, pieces of tapestry, 
and emblematic devices, and the windows were filled 
with ladies, who testified their approbation by waving 
their handkerchiefs. Hurrahs resounded in every 
direction; but they were briefer and more moderate 
than those of the South. A large number of well 
mounted horsemen were followed by the procession on 



170 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

foot, in regular divisions, consisting of citizens of 
Boston and strangers present on the occasion. Many of 
the banners and legends were not wanting in wit and 
significance, although the ojDposite party could easily 
attach to some of them a contrary meaning. The stan- 
dard of Maine, for instance when the loco-focos are in 
the majority bore the inscription, 'Wait till ISTovember !' 
For Tennessee there was only one man present ; and the 
motto was, 'Tennessee is doing her duty at home.' A 
large strong carriage contained a number of young girls 
dressed in blue and white, and waving flags which bore 
the names of the different states. Two carriages suc- 
ceeded each other filled with mechanics ; one of which 
bore the inscription, 'Henry Clay and Frelinghuysen ; 
protective duties for American industry,' and the other, 
'Polk and Dallas, Free Trade.' The former carriage 
was a handsome one, the driver and working men well 
dressed, the horses in excellent condition, etc., the latter 
was the reverse in every particular. The last in the 
procession carried a banner inscribed 'Millions are 

behind us!' It bespeaks much previous training 

and admirable bringing up, that so vast a number of 
men can associate without disorder, and without the 
direction or supervision of soldiers and policemen." 



The "Whig Mass Meeting on Boston Common, 

September 19, 1844" drawn by Sheldon, Jr., 

and lithographed by Thayer & Co., Boston, shows the 
State House dome and the church steeple, while "Old 
Glory" waves from three flagstaffs. 



Plans for Beautifying and Enlarging Boston — ^by 
Robert Gourlay Fleming, says : "Most fortunately, the 
Common was at an early day devoted to the health and 



BOSTOj^ COMMON" lYl 

recreation of citizens of Boston, and mercifully was the 
Botanic Garden withheld for building on, as once con- 
templated." 



1845 April 10. 

Deacon Samuel II. Hewes, Superintendent of 
Burials — died. He had planted 172 trees on the Com- 
mon. 



July 4. 

The first display of fireworks on the Parade Ground 
occurred on the Common. 



Local Loiterings and Visits in the Vicinity of Boston 
— by "A Looker On," (John Dix Ross) says, "As I 
was strolling through the leafy arcades of Boston Com- 
mon a few evenings since, and watching with curious 
and pleased eyes the throngs who passed me by, my 
fancy took unto herself wrings and flew away to the 
times when a former generation paraded there — when 
the noble trees, which now form such natural and grace- 
ful arches overhead, roofing the broad aisles with their 
masses of foliage, through which the flickering sun- 
beams paved the walks with a kind of mosaic gold, 
were young, or newly planted— and when many, whose 
names are yet familiar, sauntered there in all the pride 
of youth and beauty 

"And let us take a bird's-eye view of the Common, 
and for that purpose we will ascend to the dome of the 
State House, which looms up like a little Saint Paul's. 
Stay — and before we mount let us admire the statue of 
Washington, by Chantrey; the philosopher, statesman 
and soldier delineated by the great sculptor 

"I have witnessed a number of what are called very 



172 BOSTOlsT COMMO:^ 

fine sights in my time — I have been present at the 
Queen's Coronation, and at other such imposing spec- 
tacles, but I can in all sincerity, aver that none ever 
yielded me so much pleasure as the view on Boston 
Common on the evening of the recent Fourth of July. 

The sun was rapidly sinking as I passed through 

the gates and mixed with the multitude, who passed on 
towards the spot where the fireworks were to be ex- 
hibited. And as I stood on the eminence, near the 
Pond, what a magnificent sight met my gaze ! 

"A happy name is that — Boston Common ! There is 
nothing exclusive about it, and the term emphatically 
implies that it is, what it indeed is, common as the 
breezes which sweep along its surface, and the sky 
which smiles above it. It is the great Lung to the 
throbbing city-heart, and the organ in which the renova- 
ting and healing influences are to be found — a place 
where care may be for a while banished, and in which 
anxiety may smooth his ruffled brow. It is alike a 
resort of youth and age — for the f rivolist and the philos- 
opher. Innocence may sport there without soiling its 
beautiful garments — and then the grief that comes with 
years may find solace and relief. Fortunate was Boston 
in having had far sighted men for its founders, and 
doubly fortunate are those, who can with pride remem- 
ber the wisdom of their ancestors, as they realize the 
enjo^mients which, in the benevolence of their hearts, 
they planned." 



Among the residents of Summer Street, and the sur- 
rounding neighborhood, who were often seen walking on 
the Common, were, Jacob Sleeper, Isaac Rich, Lee 
Claflin, ISTathaniel Goddard, James Jackson, William 
H. Gray, Horace Gray, John Welles, Dr. Alexander 



BOSTOIT COMMON" 1Y3 

Young, Eev. Francis William Pitt, Dr. Orville Dewey, 
both of the ISTew South Church — Rufus Choate, Edward 
Everett, Daniel Webster, Colonel Sever, William Par- 
sons, Benjamin Loring, James C. Paige, Captain 
Sturgis, Henry Gassett, Henry Higginson, Benjamin 
Rich, Charles Brooks, William Rollins, Alexander H. 
Everett, Israel Thorndike, George Blake, John Tappan, 
Benjamin Bussey, John P. Cushing, Drs. John Sylves- 
ter Gardiner, Jonathan Mayhew, Franklin Dexter, 
Dr. E. H. Bobbins and also Marion Weston Chapman 
who earnestly advocated the cause of abolition. 

Winthrop Place: Thomas H. Perkins, Jr., William 
H, Gardiner, Isaac MacLellan, Isaac P. Davis, Benja- 
min A Gould, father of the astronomer of the same 
name — George Bond, H. Ilollis Hunnewell, Thomas 
Motley, Henry Cabot, John E. Lodge, George Bancroft, 
Samuel Cabot, Joshua Blake, Francis Staunton, 
Thomas Lamb, Josiah Parsons Cooke and Samuel 
Greele. 

Otis Place : ISTathaniel Bowditch, Bryant P. Tilden, 
Samuel G. Williams, Oliver Eldredge, Augustus Thorn- 
dike, Jeremiah S. Boies, Charles Thorndike, Richard 
D. Tucker, Eben Rollins and John L. Gardner. 



July 9. 

Funeral honors for the death of General Jackson 
drew great crowds to the streets and Common. 



]!^OVEMBER 17. 
The Winthrop House was opened. Many guests 
went down to the Common. 



Parade grounds prepared on the west side of the Com- 
mon. 



174 BOSTON COMMON 

1846 May 1. 

The Boston Daily Journal makes the following an- 
nouncement : "Artillery election : A promenade con- 
cert and children's dance is to come off at the Public 
Gardens on Monday afternoon, provided the weather is 
favorable. Bouquets will be offered for sale. An ex- 
cellent band of music will be stationed on the grounds." 



August 25, Five o'clock a. m. 
A slight shock of earthquake was felt on the Common. 



September 21. 
The Adams House was formally opened. Its patrons 
often came to the Comihon. 



1847 May 1. 

The Revere House, on Bowdoin Square, was com- 
pleted and opened when many went to the Common. 



June 9. 

Some mischievous boys played a trick by trying to 
burn the "Old Elm" by igniting matches and throwing 
them into a decayed place. 



June 29. 
President Polk visited Boston and was greeted with 
a warm reception while many were on the Common. 



July 27. 
New iron seats were placed on the Common. They 
prevented whittling. 



August 2. 
The removal of buildings on the Common. 



BOSTON COMMON^ 175 

The Boston Daily Journal, says: The small build- 
ings are marching off the Training Field and the brick 
engine and school house, so to speak, are preparing to 
follow. The school house is to take a sort of right 
wheel, and back down in the lot lately purchased, front- 
ing the Training Field on Common Street. It is a 
huge undertaking to move so large a brick building, but 
we presume it can be done with perfect safety by the 
contractors. 



November 20. 
The cornerstone of the Beacon Hill Reservoir was 
laid when many witnessed the ceremonies on the Com- 
mon. 



The cornerstone of the Boston Athenaeum, on Beacon 
Street, was laid, which brought many to the Common. 



1848 January 7. 

$1100 was found and recovered, by Marshall Tukey, 
by digging in the Public Garden. 



February 23. 
John Quincy Adams died in Washington. Funeral 
obsequies were held in Boston when the "black coffin" 
was seen by the crowds on the streets as the procession 
slowly passed to the music of the Dead March. Many 
assembled on the Common. 



March 14. 
General Sam Houston lectured at Tremont Temple 
and visited the Common. 



176 BOSTOIT COMMOI^ 

August. 
The bottom of the Frog Pond, on the Common, was 
paved with stones. 



OCTOBEE 25. 
Cochituate water was introduced in Boston when the 
Frog Pond (called "Crescent" since the building of the 
wall) was used as an illustrator in the celebration and 
became "Fountain Pond" by the new and beautiful 
fountain. 

October 25. 
The Cochituate water celebration was a memorable 
event. A vast parade proceeded through the different 
streets and ended on the Common where a platform — 
occupied by Mayor Quincy and other distinguished 
citizens — was built over the Frog Pond. Fountain 
streams, turned on, rose high in the air as school chil- 
dren sang "My name is Water" amid the ringing of 
bells and the sound of cannon while rockets rose to the 
sky. At a dinner given by the Boston Latin School 
thirty-five years afterwards (1883) Hon. Robert S. 
Rantoul read a poem, recalling an incident of school 
boy days, in this event, containing the following stanza : 
"Behold the stately pageant wind along the choking 

street ! 
From mart and house-top streaming flags our civic feast 

day greet ! 
By the dark Frog pond's mimic flood I see our cohorts 

drawn, 
As, line on line, by Beacon Hill, they tramp the sloping 

lawn, 
I feel October's eager air toy with each silken fold 
Of that bright flag whose 'P. L. S.' our modest legend 

told. . 



BOSTOIsT COMMON 177 

I hear the bells, with clangorous tongue the waning day 

ring out; 
I w^atch the rockets' fiery trail — I catch the exultant 

shout 
That rolled — it seems but yester — e'en along the Park 

Street crest 
Just as the red Autumnal sun sank in the purple west, 
From State House dome, down Flag Staff Hill, to lazy 

Charles' banks, — 
The wild huzza that scaled the sky from out those school- 
boy ranks, 
When from its base of molten bronze the crystal column 

rose! 
Long Pond, at last, by Blackstone's Spring in iron 

arteries flows ! 
And Boston claims her destined bride, the fair Cochitu- 

ate. 
As Quincy turns the water on, in Eighteen Forty-eight !" 

A "View of the Water Celebration on Boston Com- 
mon, October 25, 1848," drawn on stone by Samuel 
W. Bowse from a sketch by B. F. Smith, Jr., and litho- 
graphed by Tappan and Bradford, Boston, shows the 
figures of Daniel Webster, Longfellow and others in the 
foreground. 



October 25. 
A long pond was opened, near the Frog Pond, on the 
Common. 



October 25. 
The Frog Pond was again improved and Cochituate 
water was drawn from a new hydrant. 



178 BOSTON COMMON' 

October 25. 
The Liberty pole was removed to the big hill. 



Flag staff removed from big elm to Flag Staff hill. 



1849 February 28. 

Chief Objewa was at Faneuil Hall and went to the 
Common. 



September 28. 
A fountain was opened in front of the State House. 



I^OVEMBER 23. 

The reservoir was completed on Beacon Hill. 



"Frothingham's Seige of Boston," contains: "A 
plan of the Town of Boston, with the intrenchments, 
etc., of His Majesty's Forces in 1775, from the Observa- 
tions of Lieut. Page of His Majesty's Corps of En- 
gineers and from the Plans of other Grentlemen 

Engraved for William Faden, Charing Cross, as the 
Act directs, last October, 1777." 



1850 

Frederika Bremer, in Homes of the ISTew World, — 
says: "Boston, February 1. I was pleased by (a) 
visit to the State House of Boston, which is also, in its 
exterior, a magnificent building. Two immense foun- 
tains cast up their waters in front of its facade, and 
from the flight of steps outside the house the view is 
splendid. Below lies the extensive green called 'Boston 
Common,' in the middle of which is also a beautiful 
fountain which throws up its water to a great height. 
Round it, on three sides, run three remarkably beauti- 



BOSTO^T COMMON 1Y9 

ful streets, each street planted tliroiigli its whole length 
with lofty trees, mostly the elm, the favorite tree of 
Massachusetts, and some of the same kind beautify also 
the park-like Common. On the fourth side is an open 
view of the ocean creek. Here on the broad cause- 
ways, beneath the beautiful elms, I am fond of walking 
when the weather is mild, to behold through the 
branches of the trees the bright blue heaven of Massa- 
chusetts." 



February 19. 
A liberty block was completed on the spot of the 
Liberty Tree. 



August 15. 
Funeral obsequies for the death of President Taylor 
drew many people to the streets and Common. 



December 5. 
Lieutenant Maury lectured at the Lowell Institute 
and visited the Common. 



The Common, originally of much larger proportions, 
has been reduced in size, from time to time, until it 
was thought to be of the right proportion for the town. 



One reads of Colonel T. H. Perkins, who, in an 
earlier generation, went snipe shooting on the Common. 



Daniel Webster, like many Bostonians, walked, 
before breakfast, outside the Common, every morning, 
also Edward Everett and his son took the same walk. 
Rufus Choate once blended with his morning walk the 
study of German on the Common. 



180 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

Sprague's Writings, — Boston ; on the title page is an 
engraving of the "Old Elm." 



A common occurrence furnishes a witticism. 



1851 April 3. 

The capture of a runaway slave — Thomas Semmes — 
caused much talk in town and on the Common. 



May 3. 

Gleason's Pictorial contains a picture — drawn by 
"J. H. M." of the "Anti-Slavery Meeting on the Com- 



mon." 



June 3. 
General John E. Wool visited the city and Common. 



' June. 

A Smokers Retreat, with seats, was started on the 
Common. 

Gleason's Pictorial (Sept. 20) has a picture of the 
"Smokers Circle on Boston Common." 



The Grand Railroad Jubilee "commemorative of the 
opening of communication between Boston and Canada 
lasted three days." 

September 17. 

The first day: Lord Elgin, and other distinguished 
guests, were escorted to various points of interest in the 
city including the Common. 

The second day: A large military procession 
marched from the City Hall, in School Street, through 
Tremont, Court, Cambridge, Chambers, Green and Pitt 
Streets, Haymarket Square, Blackstone, Clinton and 



BOSTO^^ COMMOI^ 181 

South Market Streets, Merchants Row, State, Wash- 
ington, Dover and Tremont to the corner of Park where 
it entered the Common, where they were reviewed by 
President Fillmore, who sat in a barouche side of Mayor 
Bigelow, and passing long groups of merry children, on 
the Mall, went out the Boylston Street gate. 

Septembek 19. 

The third day: A grand dinner given to the guests 
visiting the city and attended by 3600 persons was 
spread in a Pavilion, erected on the end of the Common 
toward the Public Garden, where speeches were made 
by Lord Elgin, Governor Boutwell, Edward Everett, 
Robert C. Winthrop and others. 

A grand display of fireworks came off in the evening. 

Gleasons Pictorial (Nov. 15) has a sketch: a 
"Dinner Festival on Boston Common at the Railroad 
Jubilee." A motto over an (interior) archway reads: 
"Mercantile Enterprise, Railroad and Telegraph, Bos- 
ton 1630 to 1851." Various flags wave on the ceiling. 



A Court decision gave a title to the centre of a street 
when a question was asked if the same decision did not 
affect the public squares and the Common, 



Much is being done to make the Common more at- 
tractive. 



1852 Apeil 29. 

Louis Kossuth came, lecturing at Faneuil Hall, and 
visited the Common. 



October 18. 
The Board of Aldermen passed an order establishing 
the Parade Ground. 



182 BOSTON COMMON 

With Thackeray in America, — bj Eyre Crowe, A. L. 
A. (1893) says, October, "We had overhead, a most 
glorious sunset effect of cloudland, quite eclipsing the 
now already darkening outline of the distant town of 

Boston We bumped into Boston by circuitous 

routes, till we reached the hospitable shelter of the 
Tremont house. Visits were made on the 'poet Bunn' 
and Madame Sontag both of whom were at the Revere 
House The claims then paramount of the Tre- 
mont and the Revere hotels have succumbed to those of 
yet more siDlendid ones, called the Vendome and the 
Brunswick." Of the Bunker Hill Monument, Mr. T. 
says : "I naturally went to inspect it, crossing the 
Charlestown Ferry for that purpose," and, viewing the 
outline of the city from that spot, he again says, (since 
the dedication of the monument), "probably ulterior 
conflagrations and demolitions may have quite altered 
its aspect since then." The Common was visited. 



The charming work — John Lothrop Motley and his 
Family — Further letters and records — edited by his 
daughter and Herbert St. John Mildmay (1910) says 
in a letter: 

"From Mrs. Thomas Motley to J. L. M." 

ISTOVEMBER 11. 

"Sontag who is now singing in Boston 

"I have heard her once, and I shall hear her again 
tomorrow. I cannot pretend to criticise her, but she 
filled me with delight; such a pure sweet voice, such 
exquisite whispered melody, I never heard; not the 
faintest tone is lost, but as distinct as her fullest notes. 
Her toilette is exquisite as is her grace, and she is so 

pretty I hear that she will not sing here again; 

she dreads the climate so much. Unfortunately the 



BOSTON COMMON^ 183 

new music hall is not quite finished. She sang at the 
Melodeon which was filled full, and the applause was 
unbounded. She was finely supported. The Germani, 
Bacchial, Jacel and the wonderful little violinist Paul 
Julian, several other singers who, I believe, are in her 
suite, Pozzolini, Rocco, etc., I do not think you can 
compare her with others ; her voice has not the wonder- 
ful power of Jenny Lind, but she has so much more 
grace and beauty and she makes up in sweetness and 
finish for the passion of the Italian." She visited the 
Common. 



IvToVEMBER 30. 

Great funeral ceremonies in honor of Daniel Webster 
were held in Boston at the close of which many persons 
went to the Common. 



1853 Maech 23. 

The Light Dragoons were organized and paraded on 
the Common. 



September 8. 
The west end addition of the State House was com- 
pleted. 



I^OVEMBEK. 

The lands of the Public Garden were again offered 
for sale. 



Charles Mackay wrote one of his poems of nature of 
which, it is said, he was "prompted thereto by the sight 
of some daisies growing on Boston Common !" Per- 
chance it may have been "A Reverie in the Grass" con- 
taining the lines: 



184 BOSTON COMMON^ 

"Here let me rest, amid the bearded grass, 
Sprinkled with buttercups, and idly pass 
One hour of sunshine on the green hill slope ; 
Watching the rigid clouds, that o'er the cope 
Of visible heaven sail quietly along; 
Listening the wind, or rustling leaves, or song 
Of blackbird, or sweet ring dove in the copse 
Of pines and sycamores, whose dark green tops 
Form a clear outline right against the blue 
Here let me lie and dream." 



1854 May 24. 

Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave, was arrested in 
Boston, Theodore Parker, Samuel G. Howe, and 
Thomas Wentworth Higginson called a meeting in 
Faneuil Hall where loud expressions of indignation 
were poured forth to a vast audience. An attack was 
made on the Court House where the negro was confined, 
but which was repelled by the police. Burns, sur- 
rounded by the military, was led through the streets, 
while the bells rang and amid the hoots and jeers of 
the crowd, to the end of Long Wharf and sent back to 
the South. Sympathy for the unfortunate negro was 
expressed on the streets and on the Common. 



July 4. 
Balloon ascensions were of frequent occurrence on 
the Common. 



August 23. 
Five men were killed by a shell explosion on the 
Common. 



The gate of the iron fence around the "Old Elm" 



BOSTON COMMON 185 

bears the inscription, ''This tree has been standing here 
for an unknown period. It is believed to have existed 
before the settlement of Boston, being full grown in 
1722, exhibited marks of old age in 1792, and was 
nearly destroyed by a storm in 1832. Protected by an 
iron enclosure in 1854. J. V. C Smith, Mayor." 



1855 August 3. 

The box containing the remains of Major General 
Josej)h Warren, which were taken from the Granary 
Burying Ground to St. Paul's Church, (1825) were 
buried in Forest Hills Cemetery. 



September 17. 
Laying of the corner stone of the Public Library on 
Boylston Street. Many went to the Common. 



The "Old Elm" is venerated as a relic of the Indian 
Shawmut. 



It was considered probable that, from its growth and 
size, the "Old Elm" was 200 years old. 



The "Old Elm" is regarded as "one of the finest 



-■& 



natural ornaments in this part of the country." 



The State House was enlarged and a new corner 
stone laid, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts having 
charge of the ceremonies which drew a great crowd to 
the Common. 



Theodore Parker who preached to multitudes in 
Boston Music Hall, Thomas Starr King whose powerful 
voice was heard in the Hollis Street Church, Channing 



186 bosto:n" common 

whose magic tones are ever remembered, Father Taylor 
who preached to sailors in his Bethel, Gough whose imi- 
tations of victims of intemperance thrilled many an 
audience, Julius Booth the unrivalled tragedian were 
all seen walking on the Common. 



1856 Febeuary 23. 

Ballou's Pictorial contains a "Snow Scene on Boston 
Common." 



June. 

Bodies were removed from the north side of the 
Keck to prepare for a hotel site. 



August 16 
leaving 
enade Concert on Boston Common." 



Ballou's Pictorial contains an engraving of a "Prom- 



Septembee 17. 

The Inauguration of the Statue of Franklin. The 
parade of the Fire Department was one of the features 
of the procession. At three o'clock in the afternoon, 
at the close of the procession, they proceeded to the 
westerly end of the Common where an exhibition of 
throwing water was witnessed by thousands of spec- 
tators. 

At the Inauguration ceremonies of the Franklin 
Statue, among the many congratulatory letters sent, by 
the mayors of various cities, to the mayor of Boston, was 
the following: 

Pittsfield, September lY. 
To His Honor the Mayor of Boston. 

You do us honor over much. We are a rural town 
as yet, without a mayor ; but the "Old Elm" of Pittsfield 



'^ 



BOSTOI^^ COMMON^ 187 

sends greetings ; to the "Old Elm" of Boston Common, 
and to his honor the Mayor of Boston, while the western 
border of Massachusetts claims her share in the glory 
which Franklin shed over the old Commonwealth, and 
finds his illustrious birthplace and his new statue. 

The Old Elm of Pittsfield." 



1858 January 1. 

The dedication of the Boston Public Library occurred 
when 1500 persons assembled at the City Hall, at half- 
past three o'clock and formed in procession, escorted by 
the Boston Light Infantry headed by the Boston Band, 
and marched through School, Beacon, Park, to the new 
library building on Boylston Street where, with exercises 
and music, the keys were delivered to Mayor Rice. 
Many strolling on the Common. 



Monday, July 5. 
(The Fourth occurring on Sunday), the Eighty- 
second anniversary of American Independence — a mild, 
clear day — crowds assembled on the Common and 
Parks awaiting the events of the day. Bells rang at 
sunrise and cannon pealed forth from different quarters 
of the city. One of the features was the "Brass Con- 
cert" on the Common where 50,000 persons listened to 

(1) Hail Columbia 

(2) Yankee Doodle 

(3) Woodup 

(4) Washington's March 

(5) The Anvil Chorus 

(6) The Star Spangled Banner 

(7) God Save the Queen 

(8) La Marseillaise 



188 , BOSTON COMMON 

(9) The Russian National Hymn 
(10) The Turkish March. 

The "Young America's Frolic" at the Public Garden 
added pleasure to the juveniles who passed the time in 
singing, dancing, etc., as the Germania Band played 
sweet music with exhibitions of cameras obscuros, mam- 
moth kaleidoscopes, etc. The day opened by fancy 
dances and at noon the song, written by T. W. Parsons, 
was sung resounding through the trees. An oration 
was delivered by John S. Holmes, before a large 
audience at Music Hall. The "City Dinner" took 
place at Faneuil Hall where addresses were made by 
Mayor Lincoln, Governor Banks, Mr. Everett, Judge 
Sanger, Mr. A. A. Lawrence, Mr. Joseph Howe, and 
Rev. S. K. Lothrop. 

The Democratic celebration was held in Tremont 
Temple where the orator was Rufus Choate and fol- 
lowed by a Banquet at the Revere House in the after- 
noon, where speeches were made by Mr. Williamson, Mr. 
Everett, Mr. Austin, Mr. Hallet, Mr. Webster, Mr. 
Woodbury, Mr. Davis, General Palfrey, Governor 
Stevens, and Mayor Lincoln. 

On the Common a grand balloon ascension drew a 
great crowd as the Ganymede with Mr. Charles E. Wise 
arose, at four o'clock in the afternoon, and descended 
at Maiden Centre, before six, creating much curiosity. 
At half-past five another balloon Jupiter — in care of 
the elder Mr. Wise, with Mr. S. C. Burr and Mr. 
Lyman, W. Brittan — ascended, and lost to view in ten 
minutes, came down at Melrose, at half-past seven 
o'clock. A grand display of fireworks was witnessed 
on the Common in the evening. 



BOSTO:^ COMMOI^ 189 

October 11. 
Jefferson Davis came to Boston and visited the Com- 
mon. 



The Old Blue Ball — an old landmark — that had 
stood for over two centuries with an old sign suspended 
on the corner of Union and Hanover Streets, the site of 
the residence of Josiah Franklin, was demolished. 
Many loitering out often went to the Common. 



Oliver Wendell Holmes, in the Autocrat of the Break- 
fast Tahle, is said to have made immortal the "Long 
Path," running from Joj to Boylston Street, on the 
Common. 



An amusing custom with certain bojs was to bury an 
old trunk, containing several dollars in coin, at the 
beginning of the present Commonwealth Avenue, at the 
side of the Public Garden. The plot, however, was dis- 
covered as in one of the searches the trunk had already 
disappeared. 



1859 January 19. 

Edward Everett, in an address, entitled "Franklin 
the Boston Boy," delivered before the Association of 
Franklin Medal Scholars in Music Hall, said of the Old 
Granary Burying Ground, where the parents of Frank- 
lin lie buried, that it now lays in the centre of the 
population of the city and was formerly on the out- 
skirts of the town, and is now surrounded by the Tre- 
mont House, the Park Street Church, the Boston 
Athenaeum and some of the costliest homes of the city 
in Park and Beacon Streets. The front of the cemetery 
is shaded by a row of eleven majestic English Elms 



190 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

planted by Major Aclino Paddock and Jolm Ballard, 
nearly a century ago. 



April 1. 
A startling announcement was made in the Boston 
papers that a cave was discovered, which drew many 
persons to the Parade Ground near the Boylston Street 
end of the Common, who paid a small fee to enter the 
canvas covering, but before -the close of the day every- 
one learned that they had been April fooled. 



July 4. 
A mornina; band concert on the Common. 
Ballou's Pictorial (July) has a "Fourth of July 
scene on Boston Common." 



July 7. 
An elephant, belonging to Sam Rice, bathed in the 



Frog Pond on the Common. 



August 15. 
A military company from Montreal drilled on the 
Common. 



September 17. 
A statue of Webster was placed in front of the State 
House. 



October. 
Foot ball was often played, on the Common, and a 
match game occurred between Dixwell's private Latin 
School and the Boston Public Latin School. The oppos- 
ing goals were the Beacon Street Mall and the path 
leading from Flagstaff Hill to Charles Street. 



BOSTON COMMOIsT 191 

On the extension of Back Bay, George H. Snelling 
petitioned the Legislature that the plan of the Commis- 
sioners be so modified that, instead of the houses and 
lots on Commonwealth Avenue, a broad basin of water 
should run east and west, and thus permitting the south 
west winds, in summer, to blow, as before, over the 
open space. The plan was approved by certain news- 
papers and citizens, and a letter from Charles Sumner, 
thanked Mr. Snelling for his "timely intervention to 
save our Boston Common by keeping it open to the 
western breezes and to the setting sun." The plan, 
however, remained unaltered. 



The game of hockey was very popular, sides were 
each day formed on the Parade Ground on the Common. 



When the Parade Ground was filled in at the end of 
Boylston Street, hundreds of loads of oyster shells were 
used for dumping purposes which were often made 
missels of and sent "flying through the air." 



A Boston boy relates how he once batted a ball high 
up among the green leaves of the trees on the Beacon 
Street Mall where it passed out of sight and was never 
seen, or heard of, again. 



The old hand engines were: Mazeppa No. 1, Per- 
Tcins No. 2, Eagle No. 3, Cataract No. 4, Extinguisher 
No. 5, Melville No. 6, Tiger No. 7, Boston No. 8, 
Maverich No. 9, Dunhar No, 10, Barnicoat No. 11, 
Tremont No. 12, etc., etc. Five or more, of these com- 
panies often met for a rival test to determine which 
could throw the highest stream on the Common. 



192 BOSTOi^r COMMON 

A West End negro and a South Ender — between 
whom trouble existed — met on the Common wliere, 
after lond, angrj words, the negro threw a stone, which 
he held in his hand, at the head of his antagonist caus- 
ing severe injuries. 



Flag Staff Hill was a popular coasting ground. 



Many citizens made kites for their children, which 
were raised on the Common. Dr. ISTathaniel B. Shurt- 
leff — once Mayor of Boston — excelled in making 
Chinese kites resembling owls with glaring eyes. 



Tipcat (chasing a cat with a twisted willow stick), 
was a popular game on the Common. 



Cricket had grown to be a favorite game ; and a num- 
ber of clubs were formed, viz. : the "Boston," the "Bay 
State," the "Glen and Thistle," the "Young Bostons," 
the "Mount Vernon," etc., but, who, finding the ground 
of the Common too hard to place a wicket, or bowling 
crease, went to grounds at East Cambridge. 



Among the boys who played on the Common were : 
Henry Cabot Lodge, William Walley, Samuel Cabot, 
Arthur Brooks, George Lyman, Charlie and Bollins 
Morse, George Mifflin, Cabot Eussell, Sam and Gus. 
Bradstreet, Arthur Beebe, Henry and Joe Fay, Billy 
Field, Lem Stanwood, "Ken" Thayer, ISTed Burgess, 
Malcolm Greenough, Frank Manning, Frank Nichol- 
son, Tom Motley, etc., etc. One of their achievements 
was to vault over the pickets of the iron fence. 



Charles Mackay, in Life and Liberty in America, 



BOSTON COMMOI^T 193 

sajs, "Boston the capital of the small but ancient, 
wealthy, and intelligent commonwealth of Massachu- 
setts, the model and most conservative state of the 
Union, is one of the most picturesque as well as im- 
portant cities of America. The original Indian name 
of the small peninsula on which it is built was ^Shaw- 
mut' or the 'Living Fountains.' From the three hills 
on which it stands, which have been now partly levelled, 
it obtained from the early settlers the name of Tremont, 
or Tri-mountain — a name still given to it by poets and 
orators, when they strive to be particularly eloquent .... 
The old city, or Boston proper, stands on a peninsula, 
surrounded by salt water on three sides, and on the 
fourth by the brackish water of the Charles River, which 
at its confluence with the sea, spreads out like a small 
lake. It is connected by a narrow strip of land, not 
more than two feet above high water, and called the 

Neck, with the suburb or city of Roxbury The 

great charm of the Scenery of Boston is its Common or 
Park — a piece of ground covering about forty acres, 
and open on one side to the Charles River, over the 
estuary of which, and the heights beyond, it commands 
from every part a series of extensive and beautiful 
views. The other sides of the Common are occupied by 
the residences of the principal inhabitants — noble stone 
buildings most of them — and representing a rental rang- 
ing from £300 to £800 or £1000 per annum. House 
rent is exceedingly high in all the great American cities, 
and is at least double that of houses of the corresponding 
style in London. In all distant views the State House 
dominates the city as the highest and most conspicuous 
object, around which everything else is concentrated. 
The view from the top of this edifice well repays the 
labor of the ascent and affords an unrivalled panorama 



194 BOSTOISr COMMO]^ 

of the busy, populous, and charming home which the 
descendants of the ancient English Puritans have made 
for themselves in the ISTew World. In the Common, 
surrounded by a railing to protect it from injury, stands 
a venerable elm, with an inscription stating that it is 
believed to have been planted before the first settlement 
of Boston as a colony, and that it began to exhibit signs 
of old age a quarter of a century ago. Its boughs are 
inhabited by a colony of tame gray squirrels. To throw 
nuts to these graceful little creatures, and watch their 
gambols, is one of the principal amusements of the 
nurse maids, and children of Boston, as well as of many 
older and wiser persons. There are similar colonies in 
the othet elms in some of the principal streets. The 
squirrels are general favorites, and have no enemies 
except among the cats, which occasionally make an 
inroad upon them and diminish their numbers, to the 
great disgust and indignation of the Avell-minded popu- 
lation. It may be mentioned as an interesting fact in 
natural history that the elms in Boston planted by the 
English settlers from slips or seeds brought from Eng- 
land retain their leaves much later than the native 
American elms. At this advanced period of the year 
may be noticed, amid the leafless or the brown and yel- 
low trees that grace the Common, seven elms of most 
luxuriant green foliage which seem not to have lost a 
leaf, or to possess a leaf in the slightest degree dis- 
colored. There are the English elms, sturdy Britons, 
flourishing vigorously, while their Yankee brethren 
seedy, sapless, and wo-begone, look as sallow as if they 
too, like their human compatriots, smoked immoder- 
ately, chewed tobacco, spat, lived in heated rooms, and, 
in their over-eagerness to get rich, did injustice to their 
physical nature." 



BOSTOIT COMMON" 195 

Messrs. Ticknor and Fields bookstore, on Washing- 
ton Street, well known throughout the country has long 
been a literary arena for scholars and authors. Many 
of the brightest stars in literature have been seen there. 
Longfellow the dearly loved poet, Professor Agassiz who 
endeared himself to the scholarly world by his words 
that "he had no time to make money" and whose love of 
American institutions made him refuse an offer of 
ISTapoleon III to go to Paris ; Oliver Wendell Holmes 
who excelled in sparkling wit, Prescott the historian, 
besides poets, Clergymen, writers, journalists, editors, 
professors, scholars, poetesses, students, matrons, etc., 
etc., who have there met and dicussed the merits of new 
books. The aesthetic air of Boston, with the Common, 
has gained it the name of being the "Athens of the 
'New World," though New York, Philadelphia, and 
other cities of the United States claim equal social and 
literary distinction. 



An act for the acceptance of the Public Garden was 
passed and flower beds and paths were laid out. 

A Ferris wheel, that rose to the heighth of 40 or 50 
feet, Avas erected and a smaller one for the less venture- 
some. 

In winter the pond was as popular for skaters as the 
Frog Pond on the Common. 

The Public Garden was the camping ground for all 
the circuses of an earlier day that came to Boston. 

The Public Garden is surrounded by busy streets, 
substantial office buildings, stores, churches, theatres, 
hotels, club houses, and costly residences. The State 
House stands on an eminence on Beacon Street while 
the harbor is a mile eastward. 



196 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

1860 ]\Iay 16. 

A vote to cut the trees down on Paddock's Mall was 
carried. 



June 29, at half-past six p. m. 
The "Old Elm" was seriously injured in a storm, the 
loss of a large branch, that fell, ruined its natural 
beauty. 



October 17. 
The Prince of Wales was tendered a reception in 
Boston with a military review on the Common. 



The ruins of a fort, built by the British in 1Y76, 
could be seen on the Common. It stood, with mounted 
cannon, south of the Frog Pond, overlooking the town. 



A great gale did not injure the trees on the Common. 

We speak of the Boston of Edward Everett, Louise 
Chandler Moulton, Cooper, Bynner, Lydia Maria Child, 
Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Lowell, 
Holmes, Ticknor, Motley, Prescott, Parker, Whittier, 
Sumner, Agassiz, Howells, Whipple, Aldrich, Phillips 
Brooks, Edward Everett Hale, Horace Mann, Julia 
Ward Howe, Burlingame, Andrew, Wilson, Hoar, 
Alcott, James Freeman Clarke, George H. Hepworth, 
William B. Alger, Savage, George Eipley, Osgood 
Parkman, etc., all of whom have frequently walked on 
the Common. 



The charming biography — Louise Chandler Moulton, 
Poet and Friend — by Lillian Whiting (1910) says: 
"Mrs. Spofford, writing of Mrs. Moulton from per- 



BOSTOIvT COMMON' 197 

sonal memory, says of her in 1860: 'She was now in 
her twenty-fifth year, fully launched upon the literary 
high-seas, contributing to Harpers, the Galaxy, and 
Scrihners as they came into existence, and to the Young 
Folks, the Youth's Companion and other periodicals 
for children. Her life seemed a fortunate one. She 
had a charming home in Boston where she met and en- 
tertained the most pleasant people The intellectual 

and the social were closely blended in the Boston of the 
sixties and the seventies, and Mrs. Moulton was in the 
very midst of the most characteristically Bostonian 
circles.' " 



The dwellings that surround the Common excel in 
elegance and comfort. Those on Park Street have a 
highly picturesque view. 



Probably no place is more cherished by those who, in 
childhood, trundled hoops or played ball, marbles, etc., 
besides the many sights, seen on the Common. 



Great improvements were made, in the Public Garden, 
by the city. 



Policemen patrolling the Common were so frequently 
asked to point out the favorite seat of Lemuel Barker 
that they all agreed upon one, but which, perchance, 
may have admitted of as much doubt as many of the 
bullets said to have been picked up on the field of 
Waterloo. 



THE CIVIL WAR 



1861 April 17. 

Governor Andrew, the war governor, presented a set 
of colors to the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment — Colonel 
Edward F. Jones — on their departure for Washington. 
The presentation address was made from the steps of 
the State House while the troops were drawn up in line, 
on Beacon Street, causing a great crowd to gather on 
the Common. 



April 19. 
The Eighth Regiment, en route to the war, passed 
through Boston when the Common was well filled. 



June 3. 
The First Marine Regiment passed through Boston 
and was seen by many on the streets and Common. 



June 15. 
The First Massachusetts Regiment — the first three 
years regiment to depart for the war — leaving camp 
Cameron (in ISTorth Cambridge), marched to the Com- 
mon where they were greeted by wives, parents, sweet- 
hearts and friends on the Parade Grounds, which, roped 
off, could only be entered, by the great crowd, on the 
Charles Street side. The day was hot and sultry and 
the men, wearing their overcoats, Avere greatly exhausted 
when they reached their destination. The Regimental 



200 BOSTON COMMOK 

historian, writes: "The line swayed to and fro a few 
moments, and then, over the rope, in every direction; 
the earnest and excited mass of humanity plunged ; and 
much more speedily than it takes to write it, officers, 
soldiers, and civilians were mixed up in one immense 
throng of people, weeping, laughing, embracing, cling- 
ing to one another, and presenting here and there scenes 
so affecting, that the recollection of them is as fresh and 
vivid today as on the evening when they transpired." 
When the regiment departed only two-thirds marched 
in "regular order," the rest followed, in the midst of 
the people, to the Providence Depot where they became 
the recipients of a beautiful banner which it was in- 
tended to present them on the Common, but which was 
prevented by the crowds. 



July 8. 
The Second Eegiment left for the war causing many 
to go to the Common. 



July 18. 

The Twelfth Eegiment, commanded by Fletcher 
Webster, a son of the distinguished New Hampshire 
statesman, was presented with a handsome set of colors 
on the Common. The address was delivered by Hon. 
Edward Everett while the city donated a collation which 
was spread under the trees on the Beacon Street Mall. 

The song "John Brown's body lies mouldering in 
the grave," is said to have first been sung by "The 
Tigers" of the Twelfth Eegiment on the Common. 

"My Country, 'tis of thee" in the Park Street Church. 



July 19. 

The arrival of the Fourth Eegiment, from the war, 
caused a great number to go to the Common. 



BOSTOiT COMMON 201 

July 25. 
The departure of the Tenth Regiment for the war 
caused great crowds on the Common. 



July. 

The Third and Fourth Eegiments (23d) and the Fifth 
(30th) and the Sixth (Aug. 1), were welcomed back 
and sat to a "bountiful collation" on the Beacon Street 
Mall. Many of the men re-enlisted. The Advertiser 
(Aug. 2), says of the Sixth Eegiment, "The soldiers 
strolled about the Common, talking with their friends 
and acquaintances. Those who were so unfortunate as 
not to have any, soon succeeded in making both out of 
the crowd who were anxious to hear all the news that 
was to be heard." 



August 23. 
The Seventeenth Regiment, en route to the war, 
passed through the city and Common. 



August. 
The Pond in the Public Garden was prepared and 
completed. 



September 4. 
The Twentieth Regiment on their way to the war 
passed through Boston and the Common. 



September 24. 
Jerome Bonaparte had a public reception in Boston 
and visited the Common. 



202 BOSTON^ commo:n" 

October 8. 
The Twenty-second Regiment, en route to the war, 
went through Boston and the Common. 



ITOVEMBEB 11. 

The Twenty-third Regiment, going South, passed 
through the city and drew many to the Common. 



ISTOVEMBEE 19 

it through Be 
ton en route to LowelL Many walked to the Common 



The ISTinth Connecticut Regiment went through Bos- 



December 19. 
The First Cavalry arrived at Faneuil Hall, after the 
parade many went down to the Common. 



Many regiments, en route to or returning home from 
the war, passed through Boston and encamped on the 
Common when boys would fill the soldiers canteens from 
the fountain, on the corner of Charles and Beacon 
Streets, taking six and eight at a time. 



The famous Ellsworth Zouaves gave their marvelous 
''lightning drill," before many spectators, on the Com- 
mon one afternoon. 



Two large soldiers, belonging to a Maine Regiment, 
gave a bear-dance greatly amusing a number of people, 
on the Common. 



Recruit tents stood in different places — one on the big 
hill on the Common — when speeches were made urging 
men to enlist. One young fellow declared that he'd 



BOSTO^^ COMMON 203 

enlist if he were a "paralyzed corpse" calling forth 
loud cheers and great mirth. 

The "Headquarters of the Recruiting Committee, 
Flagstaff Hill, Boston Common," was lithographed and 
published by J. H. Bufford, Boston, September, 22, 
1862. It is in the Boston Public Library. 



Five granite basins, with fountains, were placed in 
different parts of the Public Garden which was also 
beautified bv ornamental work. One basin, contains a 
beautiful marble statue presented by John D. Bates. 
A beautiful figure was also presented by Mrs. Tudor. 

Mechanics, firemen, etc., occasionally met to play ball 
on the Common. 

1862 January 2. 

The Twelfth Regiment, going South through Boston, 
drew many to the Common. 



January 3. 
General Benjamin F. Butler reviewed his New Eng- 
land Regiment in Boston where great crowds gathered 
on the streets and Common. 



January 11. 

The Twenty-eighth Regiment, en route to the war, 

passed through Boston. Many walked on the Common. 



January 25. 
The Eighth New Hampshire Regiment coming home, 
via Boston, caused a number to go to the Common. 



204 BOSTOI^ COMMOI^ 

February 15. 
The Fourteenth Regiment going to war, via Boston, 
caused an unusual number to go to the Common. 



February 18. 
The Thirteenth Regiment going South, through Bos- 
ton, drew many to the Common, 



April 11. 
Shiloh and other recent Union victories were cele- 
brated by the firing of a salute of one hundred guns on 
the Common. 



May 12. 

Governor Brownlow was given a public reception in 
Boston and went to the Common. 



June 7. 
The West Street gate at the Common was completed. 



July 28. 

Patrick Rafferty, a member of the Thirty-third 

Regiment, while addressing a crowd on the Common, 

was contradicted by a man whom the by-standers seized 

and threw into the Frog Pond. 



August 14. 
The departure, through Boston, of the Thirty-third 
Regiment, for the South, drew a large number to the 
Common. 



August 19. 
The Sixteenth Regiment went through Boston caus- 
ing many to go to the Common. 



BOSTOIT COMMON 205 

August 21. 
The departure of tlie Seventeenth Regiment through 
Boston — for the war, made the Common more crowded 
than usuaL 



August 22. 
The Thirty-fifth Regiment passed through Boston 
for the war. Crowds on the Common. 



August 26. 
The Thirty-eighth Regiment passed through Boston 
for the war causing a crowd on the Common. 



August 27. 
The departure of the Nineteenth Regiment, via Bos- 
ton, caused great crowds on the Common. 



August 27. 
A Great War Meeting was held on the Common, 
stands were erected, in different places, where eloquent 
speeches were made by Governor Andrew, Edward 
Everett, Robert C. Winthrop and others. The Adver- 
tiser, says : "On no occasion which the war has given 
rise to has the expression of the people been so general 
and so marked by patriotic fervor as in the grand cele- 
bration of yesterday. Business was universally sus- 
pended by common consent, and the suggestion for a 
procession and mass meeting in aid of the city recruit- 
ment met with a hearty response The affair was 

essentially popular; men in citizen's dress and dis- 
tinguished only by the badges of their respective call- 
ings, and the colors and mottoes which symbolize the 
common cause, united in the long procession, and 
listened to the eloquent appeals from the various stands 



206 BOSTON" COMMON 

on the Common Early in the afternoon the 

various associations proposing to join in the procession 
began to assemble on the Common near Park Street .... 
The various civic and militarv organizations entered 
the Common by the West Street gate and were at once 
conducted into line by the Marshals. The procession 
was formed and paraded through the city in accordance 
with the well arranged programme. 



August 29. 
The departure of the Third Regiment drew many to 
the Conmion. 



August 29. 
General Corcoran had a reception in Boston visiting 
the Common. 



August 29. 
The Forty-fourth (Boston) Regiment went to the 
war when many assembled on the Common. 



September 2. 
The Twentieth Regiment, going South, passed 
through the city. Some went to the Common. 



September 5. 

The Thirty-ninth Regiment, going away, drew a 

number to the Common while passing through the city. 



September 8. 
The Fortieth Regiment left for the war, via Boston, 
drew a number to the Common. 



BOSTO]^ COMMO]^ 20Y 

Septembee 9. 
Funeral honors for the death of General Fletcher 
Webster drew many on the streets and Common. 



September 9. 
A Special was appointed for the Public Garden. 



October 18. 
The Twenty-third Regiment left for the war, via 
Boston, crossing the Common. 



October 20. 
The Twenty-seventh Regiment went South, via Bos- 
ton, when an unusually large number waved handker- 
chiefs on the streets and Common. 



October 21. 
The Twenty-first Regiment passed through Boston, 
and crossed the Common, en route for the war. 



October 22. 
The Twenty-second Regiment went to the war, via 
Boston. Many went to the Common. 



October 26. 
The Twenty-eighth Regiment passed through the 
city, and Common, en route to the war. 



l^OVEMBER 5. 

The Forty-first, Forty-third and Forty-fifth Regi- 
ments passed through Boston to the war causing a 
greater number than usual on the Common. 



208 BOSTOI^ COMMOlSr 

E^OVEMBEE 9, 

The Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Regiments passed 
through Boston for the war. A large number assem- 
bled on the Common. 



ITOVEMBEK 19. 
The Fiftieth Regiment going to the war, via Boston, 
drew many to the Common. 



l^OVEMBEE 25. 

The Fifty-first Regiment went through Boston, and 
the Common, en route to the war. 



Anthony Trollope, in North America, — in alluding 
to Boston, says : "There is an Athenaeum, and a State 
Hall, and a fashionable street, — Beacon Street, very 
like Piccadilly as it runs along the Green Park, — and 
there is the Green Park opposite to the Piccadilly, 
called Boston Common. Beacon Street and Boston 

Common are very pleasant I became enamored 

of Boston at last. Beacon Street was very pleasant to 
me, and the view over Boston Common was dear to my 
eyes. Even the State House, with its great yellow 
painted dome, became sightly; and the sunset over the 
western waters that encompass the city beats all other 
sunsets that I have seen." 



A new iron fence was put around the Public Garden 
replacing the old wooden one. 



1863 January 13. 

General Benjamin F. Butler was tendered a grand 
reception at Faneuil Hall. He often went to the Com- 
mon. 



BOSTON COMMON 209 

January 14. 
A California Cavalry Company had a reception in 
Boston and visited the Common. 



January 29. 
General George B. McClellan had a reception at 
Faneuil Hall and went to the Common. 



May 3. 

The departure of the Fifty-fourth (colored) Kegi- 
ment from Boston caused much enthusiasm on the 
streets and Common. 



May 12. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman walked 
up and down the Mall — on the Common— "vigorously 
discussing" the desirability of publishing Whitman's 
"Children of Adam." Notwithstanding the objections 
of "Concord's Bard," Whitman followed another of his 
precepts — "Insist on Yourself" as expressed in the 
essay on Self Reliance. 



Wednesday, June 10. 
An enthusiastic welcome was given to the Forty- 
fourth Regiment on their return from the war, when a 
large crowd gathered on the Common and filling the 
Charles Street Mall. The Advertiser says, on the fol- 
lowing day: "The guns were then stacked and the 
men broke ranks. At this moment the ladies could 
restrain their feelings no longer. Propriety gave way 
to nature, and they rushed with open arms upon lovers, 
brothers, husbands, sons, — and perhaps cousins, — a 
female avalanche of streaming riband and fluttering 
silks. The brave fellows stood the shock like men. 



210 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

Thej deployed as skirmishers and attempted to foil the 
attacking party with their own weapons ; but were pres- 
ently captured and led, willing prisoners, to the refresh- 
ment tables, where a tempting array of flowers and 
edibles was presented. The male relatives, presumably 
came in for their share of the greeting. After an hour 
or so spent in social conversation, affectionate questions 
and affectionate answers, the men were again brought 
into line and went through with a dress-parade, to the 
great satisfaction of the spectators. The regiment was 
then dismissed and the men will have a furlough till 
Monday, when they will probably go to Eeadville and 
be mustered out to the service." 



June 26. 
The return of the Fifth Regiment, from the war, 
caused many to assemble on the Common. 



July 2. 
The Twenty-third Maine Regiment, returning home, 
reached Boston when many went to the Common. 



July 14. 

The draft caused a great riot in Boston and much 
excitement on the Common. 

The Draft Riot started in the slums on the It^orth 
End where officers, while serving papers, in Prince 
Street, were cruelly beaten by the mob, who, having 
conquered a small number of police, were now reinforced 
by large numbers coming out of the tenements and 
saloons of Endicott, Charlestown, and other neighbor- 
ing streets. An attempt was made to seize the cannon 
in the gun house on Cooper Street which was defended 
by a few regulars from Port Warren. Several soldiers 



BOSTON COMMON 211 

were killed and wounded and the doors nearly demol- 
ished when a general discharge into the mob caused 
them to scatter and retreat to Dock Square. Eight 
rioters were killed. Some stragglers went to the Com- 
mon. 



August 23. 
The return of the Forty-eighth Eegiment drew many 
to the Common 



October 1, 
A park was laid out on the Common. 



October 22. 
General Meagher visited Boston and the Common. 



The Fifty-fourth (colored) Regiment reviewed by 
Governor Andrew when Frederick Douglas, whose two 
sons were in the ranks, w^as seated on the platform, 
stood, facing the capitol of the State, upon the corner 
of the Common, on their departure for Fort Wagner 
wdiere their ranks were depleted and their Colonel 
(Shaw) was killed. When the attack was over the 
enemy, asked to deliver the body of the Colonel, replied 
"We've buried him with his niggers." 



The historic Hancock mansion was demolished. 



1864 January 1Y. 

The Twenty-fifth Eegiment returned home going to 
the Common. 



212 BOSTON COMMON 

Jajstijary 22. 
General Burnside was given a public reception in 
Boston visiting the Common. 



Februaky 8. 
The Nineteenth Regiment returned from the war. 



February 26, 27. 
The return of the Twenty-fourth, Eighteenth and 
the New Hampshire Regiments drew many to the Com- 
mon. 



March 19. 
The return of the Thirtieth Regiment drew a greater 
crowd than usual to the Common. 



April 2. 
The arrival of the Twenty-sixth Regiment. 



April 21. 
The Thirty-first and Thirty-second Regiments came 
back. 



May 22. 
The Russian Embassy's fleet arrived in Boston 
harbor. Many officers and men visited the Common. 



May 23. 
Peacocks were put in the Deer Park on the Common. 



May 28. 
The First Regiment came home and went to Faneuil 
Hall and were mustered out on the Common. 



BOSTON COMMON 213 

June 8. 
The Russian Men of War — tlie Vitiar and the 
Osliaba — anchored in the harbor when the sailors, 
coming ashore, visited the Common where they were 
welcomed by the boys of the Latin and High Schools 
with a reception and collation. 



June 11. 



The Ninth Regiment arrived home. 



June 15. 
The Second New Hampshire Regiment came home 
via Boston and the Common. 



June 20. 
The Eleventh Regiment arrived from the South. 



July 1. 



The Twelfth Regiment returned from the war. 



July 21. 
The Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Regiments, 
all came back from the war filling the streets and Com- 
mon. 



July 23. 
Funeral honors for Colonel John Chambers drew 
many to the streets and Common. 



November 3. 
The Forty-second Regiment — Colonel Burrell, hav- 
ing performed good service at New Orleans, Brashear 
City, Baton Rouge, Houston, Galveston, etc., returned 
via Washington where they were reviewed by President 



214 BOSTON COMMON 

Lincoln at the White House, and arriving in Boston, 
passed their last night at Fanenil Hall and, the next 
morning, were mustered out on the Common, 



Squirrels disaj)peared from the Common during the 
winter. 



1865 January 19. 

Funeral services for the death of Hon. Edward 
Everett, drew many to the streets and Common. 



Washing-ton's Birthday, Feb. 22. 
When the news came that President Lincoln had 
signed the Emancipation Bill flags were displayed all 
over the city, bells rang, while the utmost excitement 
prevailed. One hundred guns were fired on the Com- 
mon. 



April 10. 
The surrender of Lee's army, at Appomattox, caused 
tremendous excitement and rejoicing. Flags hung 
from nearly every building, bells pealed forth, twenty 
steam engines were drawn screeching through the 
streets, while cannon roared on the Common. 



April 15. 
News of the assassination of President Lincoln 
caused all public buildings to be draped in mourning. 
Many sad faces were seen on the Common. 



June 1. 
Funeral honors for the death of President Lincoln 
drew great crowds to the streets and Common. 



BOSTOX COMMOI^ 215 

June 12. 
Shortly prior to the unveiling of the Hamilton 
Statue, on Commonwealth Avenue, Mayor Lincoln 
wrote that no better locality could have been selected as 
it had been proposed to plaae Ball's Equestrian Statue 
of Washington on the Common or Public Garden. 



July 4. 
The statue of Horace Mann was inaugurated in the 
State House grounds when addresses were made by 
Governor Andrew, John D. Philbrick, President Hill, 
Dr. S. G. Howe, and others, A large number of emi- 
nent men and women sat on the platform in the rear, 
the green was filled with school children while crowds 
stood around and walked on the Common. 



July 19. 
General George G. Meade visited Boston and the 
Common. 



July 31. 

Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant made his first visit 
to Boston and the Common. 



Monday, September 18. 
The dedication of the City Hall was intended to be 
held on the anniversary of the Foundation of Boston, 
but, which occurring on Sunday, the exercises were 
held the next day, at noon. The address was delivered 
by Mayor Frederick W. Lincoln, Jr. Some walked 
down to the Common. 



216 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

December 15. 
On the return of the Fiftj-fifth (colored) Regiment 
they were welcomed by a great jDrocession. Many went 
to the Common. 



December 22. 
The battle flags of the Massachusetts Regiments were 
deposited to the charge of the Commonwealth, on the 
Park Street Mall. 



Many regiments returned, with thinned ranks and 
tattered flags, from the war, and, war bronzed veterans, 
mustered out, walked, talking with friends, on the 
Common. 



The bill authorizing the rebuilding of the Beacon 
Hill Monument (with the old tablets which were pre- 
served) by the Bunker Hill Monument Association was 
passed by the Legislature. 



Dr. Holmes, in the Autocrat, alludes to the Public 
Garden as "my Garden." 



Longfellow's poem "To the River Charles," contains 
the verse: 

"While yon shadowy woodlands hide thee, 
And thy Avaters disappear. 
Friends I love have dw;elt beside thee 
And have made thy margin dear." 



1866 July 13. 

General William T. Sherman visited Boston and the 
Common.' 



BOSTOJ^ COMMOI^ 217 

October 12. 
Schoolboys, in their bright uniforms, made a pleasant 
sight drilling on the Common. 



ISTOVEMBER 14. 

Astronomers predicted a shower of meteors which 
were to be heralded by ten strokes of the bells and the 
watchmen's rattles. A large crowd came to the Com- 
mon, but the meteors did not appear. 



December 6. 
The Liberty Pole was removed to the little hill on 
the Common. 



1867 May 15. 

A baseball game was played between the LoiuelVs and 
the Harvard boys on the Common. Won by the 
LoivelVs in a score of 37 to 28. 



June 1. 
The baseball grounds, on the Common, were divided 
by ropes and stakes watched by policemen. 



June 1. 
The stone bridge, across the Pond, in the Public 
Garden was completed. 



June 17. 
The Athletics, of Philadelphia, defeated the Eon's, 
of Portland, in a game of baseball played on the Com- 
mon. Score 88 to 22. 



July -4. 
A Liberty Pole was raised in the Public Garden. 



I 



218 BOSTON COMMON" 

October 1. 
A sanitary station lionse was placed on a little hill on 
the Common. 



OCTOBEE 7. 

General Philip H. Sheridan visited Boston and the 
Common. 



l^OVEMBEK 18. 

A bronze statue of Hon. Edward Everett Story, the 
sculptor, was made in Munich and presented to the 
city. It stands on the northerly side of the Public 
Garden. 



December, 
The State House was remodelled and repaired. 



Prospectus on a map: "Town of Boston in I^ew 
England," in 1722, "Aetatus Luce 60" by Capt. John 
Bonner, "Engraved from a copy in the possession of 
William Taylor, Esq., and published by George G. 
Smith. Engraved 1867, 91 Washington, opposite State 
Street, Boston," and also stamped "1835 — Scale of 1/2 
a Mile." 

"Explanation — Boston N. E." 

A. Planted An Dom 1630 Streets 42, Lanes 36, Al- 

B. Old Xorth, 1650 leys 22 ; Houses near 3000, 

C. Old South, 1660 1000 Brick, Rest Timber, 

near 12,000 people. 

D. Ana Baptist, 1680 Great Fires. 

E. Chh. of England, 1688 Eirst, 1653 

F. Brattle St. Church, 1699 Second, 1659 

G. Quakers, 1710 Third, 1679 



BOSTON COMMON 219 

H. New mrth, 1714 Fourth, 1683 

I. New Soutli, 1716 Fifth, 1690 

K French, 1716 Sixth, 1691 

L. New No. Brick, 1721 Seventh, 1702 

a. Town IToiis;e Eighth, 1711 

b. Governor's House Gen. Small-pox 

c. South Grammar School First, 1640 

d. North Grammar School Second, 1660 

^j .^. Q 1 1 (Third, 1677-1678 

e. Writing School j^,^^^^.^^^^ 1680-1690 

f. Writing School Fifth, 1702 

g. Almshouse Sixth, 1721." 
h. Bridewell 



The map also designates many points including the 
"Harbour," "Common," "Mill Pond," "Charles River," 
"Ferry to Chelsea," etc., and also a fac-simile in writ- 
ing, viz. : "I have examined this plan and found it to 
be an exact copy of the original, (Signed) Stephen P. 
Fuller, Surveyor, Boston, July 2, 1835." 



1868 March 20. 

Kit Carson and the Ute Indians visited Boston and 
the Common. 



'May 27. 
The Military companies had a chamj)ion drill on the 
Common. 



June 3. 
The Brewer Fountain first threw forth its bright and 
sparkling stream. An exquisite bronze modelled after 
the design of Lienard of Paris, with figures represent- 
ing Neptune and Amphrite, Acis and Galatea. It was 
made in Paris and was presented by Mr. Gardner 



220 BOSTOI^^ COMMON" 

Brewer — a most public spirited citizen, to Boston. It 
is not only a feature of the Common, but has been copied 
by the cities of Lyons and Bordeaux and the late Vice- 
roy of Egypt. 



June 26. 

The corner of Tremont and Boylston Streets, on the 
Common, was cut off for one night. 



June 27. 

ISTear the north westerly corner is the monument 

presented by Thomas Lee, Esq. The presentation 

address was delivered by Dr. Henry J. Bigelow when 

it was formally accepted by the Mayor. 



June. 
The Mayor authorized that a corner of the Common, 
on the south side of Boylston street, should be cut off 
and rounded. 



July 8. 

The Twenty-second I^ew York Regiment — Captain 
Vose — visited Boston and the Common. 



August 20. 
The Chinese Embassy, crossing the Pacific to San 
Francisco journeyed across the Continent and reached 
Boston at nine ' a. m. with Hon. Anson Burlingame, 
envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, ac- 
companied by Chih-Ta-jin and Sun Ta-jin to partake of 
the hospitalities offered by the city. Entering their 
carriages, at the Western Avenue crossing, they were 
escorted through the cityjin the following order: 



BOSTON COMMON 221 

« 

The Chief Marshall. 
Aids : Police Captains R. H. Wilkins and S. G. 
Adams, Mounted Police officers under the command of 
Paul J. Vinal. 

Cavalry Band. 
Mayor Lucius Slade and Staff. 
Company B First Battalion Light Dragoons, Capt. 
Barney Hull. His Honor the Mayor and Hon. Anson 
Burlingame in a barouche drawn bv four horses. The 
Chairman of the Committee, Chief Ta-jin and Mr. 
Brown, First Secretary — in a barouche drawn by four 
horses. Alderman Benjamin James, Sun Ta-jin and 
Mr. De Champs (Second Secretary) in a barouche. 
The President of the Common Council, Councilman 
Pickering, Fung Lao-Yeh and Tah Lao-Yeh, interpret- 
ers, in a barouche. Councilmen Denny and Snow, Teh 
Lao-Yeh and Keuay Lao-Yeh, interpreters, in a 
barouche. Followed by carriages containing Ting Lao- 
Yeh, Lien Lao-Yeh ; also, Kang Lao-Yeh, Chooang Lao- 
Yeh, the Scribes and Tsi ; the physician to the Embassy. 
Carriages containing reporters for the daily papers and 
the servants of the Embassy, Company C, First Battal- 
ion of Light Dragoons, Captain George Curtis. 



The route of the procession was as follows : Through 
Western Avenue, Center, Marcella and Highland 
Streets, Eliot Square, Dudley, Warren and Washington 
Streets, Chester Square, Tremont and Worcester 
Streets, Harrison Avenue, Newton and Washington 
Streets, Union Square, Tremont, Boylston and Arling- 
ton Streets, Commonwealth Avenue, Berkeley, Bea- 
con, Park, Tremont, Winter, Summer, Devonshire and 
Franklin Streets, counter-marching around the flag 
staff, through Devonshire, Milk, India, State, Washing- 



222 BOSTO^T COMMON" 

ton, and School Streets to the Parker House where the 
guests alighted. 

Salutes in honor of a Foreign Minister, were fired 
from Washington Square at the Highlands and from 
the Common, 

August 21, ISToon. 

A public reception was given by the Embassy at 
Faneuil Hall. 

A banquet was also given at St. James Hotel, Mayor 
Shurtleff, presiding, who, after an address of welcome 
and music by Gilmore's Band, announced the toasts, in 
the following order, and their respondents : 

First: "The President of the United States." The 
band performed the American National Air. 

Second : "The Emperor of China." The band then 
performed the Chinese ISTational Air. 

Third : "The Chinese Embassy," Mr. Burlingame. 

Fourth: "The Commonwealth of Massachusetts." 
Governor Bullock. 

Fifth : "The Supplementary Treaty with China." 
Hon. Charles Sumner. 

Sixth: "Diplomacy." Hon. Caleb Cushing. Cheers 
were given for the only minister to China who bore a 
Chinese name — "Coo-Shing." 

Seventh : "The Union of the Farthest East and the 
Farthest West." Ealph Waldo Emerson. 

Eighth : "The Commercial Relations between China 
and the United States." Charles A. ISTazro, Esq. 

Ninth: "The Press." Mr. Edwin P. Whipple. 

September 2. 

Last day of the visit of the Embassy to Boston, they 
had visited the City Hall, the Institute of Technology, 
the Public Library, the City Hospital, the Waltham 
Watch Company and the Bunker Hill Monument. 



BOSTON COMMOInT 223 

Their Oriental dress attracted many persons as they 
walked through the Common. 



ISTOVEMBER 20. 

An interesting incident, on the Common, was the 
placing of a bear in the enclosure with the deer causing 
a stampede of deer. 



November. 
Meteoric showers, predicted, fell beautifully on the 
Common. 



A stone was laid out from West Street to Park 
Square, on the Common. 



1869 Spring. 

The Common, which had more than once been the 
scene of a base ball match between the Harvard's and 
the Lowell's was plowed over and games ceased. The 
Lowell now had won many victories. In six years it 
had played ninety-nine games and won seventy. Base- 
ball had now become a factor in local politics as the loss 
of the Common for a practice ground led to the forma- 
tion of a baseball element that subsequently helped to 
elect a mayor and alderman for the restoration of the 
right. 

May 26. 

Firing by electricity was witnessed on the Common. 



Mat. 

The Mutual's of New York played the Tri-mountains 
whom they defeated in a score of 69 to 17. They also 
played the Harvard's defeating them by 43 to 11, and 



i^rtwM^* 



224 BOSTON COMMON 

finally the Lowell's who made 21 runs against the Mu- 
tual's 26. These games were played on the Common. 



June 10. 
The world renowned Red Stockings, of Cincinnati, 
visited Boston. This celebrated nine, which has never 
been equalled, was composed of George Wright, short 
stop; Harry Wright, centre field; Douglas Allison, 
catcher ; Fred Waterman, third base ; Charlie Gould, 
first base ; Andy Leonard, left field ; Calvin McVey, 
right field ; Charlie Sweasey, second base ; and Asa 
Brainard, pitcher. They played with the Lowell's, on 
the Common, making a score of 29 runs against 9. 

June 11. 
They played the Tri-mountains scoring 40 runs to 12. 

June 12. 

They beat the Harvard's in a score of 30 to 11. 

These games were witnessed, amid great cheering, by 

thousands of spectators who were seated on the stands, 

erected on the Parade Ground, on the Common. 



June 16. 
General Butler's Brigade was reviewed by President 
Grant on Tremont Street, South End and the Common. 



'■') 



July 3. 

The equestrian bronze statue of Washington, modelled 
by Ball and cast at the Chicopee Works, was placed in 
the Public Garden. The dedicatory address was made 
by Hon. Alexander H. Rice. 



The equestrian statue of Washington was unveiled in 
the Public Garden. 



BOSTON COMMOiNr 225 

September 8. 
A terrible wind storm blew down tlie Coliseum and 
several other buildings and did much damage in the 
city. One of the large remaining limbs of the "Old 
Elm" fell and a number of trees were uprooted on the 
Common. 



October 10, 5.30 a. m. 
A slight shock of earthquake was felt on the Common. 



December 11. 
Baseball players became an element in politics and 
determined to elect a Mayor and Alderman in their in- 
terests. The baseball ballot was designated by a large 
red ball. Whatever may have resulted the following- 
Spring, Mayor ShurtlefF granted to the boys the lower 
end of the Common as a playground. 

Boys sleds, on the Common, had many fanciful 
names, viz. : "Comet," "Cave Adsum," "Dancing 
Feather," "Lullah," "Long Coast," etc. 

The house-sparrow was introduced, by the city 
government, to the Common and the Public Garden. 



1870 May 25. 

A magnificent military display on the Common. 



June 25. 
The School Regiment, witnessed by many spectators, 
drilled on the Common. 



October 20, at 11 a. m. 
A slight shock of earthquake was felt on the Common. 



226 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

Close of the Seventies. 

Coasting was always a favorite pastime on the Com- 
mon. The "Long Coast" ran from the corner of Park 
and Beacon Streets to the West Street Gate, and for 
some distance along the Mall. Another coast ran from 
Joy toward Boylston Street. Both were sprinkled at 
night to make the ice smooth on the following day. 
Bridges covered the coasts where many persons watched 
the boys up to eleven o'clock at night. Much rivalry 
existed in their speed with many amusing upsets. 
Coasting on the Common led to several serious acci- 
dents, and, discountenanced during the seventies, the 
bridges were taken away and gravel scattered over the 
hills. 

In winter the snowball fight between the West Enders 
and the South Enders created scenes of great merri- 
ment on the Common when the West Enders would 
strive to drive their antagonists to Boylston Street. 



Owing to various changes on the Common the Public 
Garden had now become a favorite children's resort with 
sand boxes and swings. 



^Jd"- 



1871 May 31. 

Training day on the Common. 



June 5. 
The Kansas, with Little Eaven, were in Boston and 
went to the Common. 



Sunday, June 18. 
Colonel James Fisk's ISTinth ITcav York Regiment, on 
a visit to Boston, held religious services on the Com- 
mon. 



BOSTON COMMON" 227 

June. 
Flagstaff removed from big to little hill. 



July 20. 

A slight shock of earthquake was felt on the Common. 



September 18, at 12.55. 
The cornerstone of the Soldiers' Monument was laid 
on the Common. 



December 8. 
The Grand Duke Alexis had a reception at the Boston 
Theatre and visited the Common. 



1872 June 17. 

The World's Musical Festival commenced which, 
lasting for twenty days, was attended by from 30,000 
to 70,000 and even 100,000 persons each day, and 
causing many people to throng the streets. Great 
crowds visited the Common. 



Saturday, I^ovember 9. 
Soon after seven o'clock p. m. 
A fire broke out in the business portion of the city — 
corner of Summit and Kingston Streets. The flames 
gaining great headway before the alarm was sounded, 
while the horses, all suffering from epizootic, were in- 
capacitated for duty. Extra men, who had been ap- 
pointed, drew the engines to the fire. The flames, 
witnessed by thousands of spectators, spread down 
Summer Street, along the lower side of Washington, as 
far as the Old South Church and crossed Milk Street, 
thence eastward and northward, to the water front and 
beyond Pearl Street. An extra police force and a 



228 BOSTON" COMMON 

brigade of militia restored a kind of order out of the 
excitement, while trucks drawn bj clerks, conveyed 
merchandise to the different depots, merchants carried 
valuable papers to remote places of safety and poor 
people, south of Summer Street, all through the night, 
dragged their household effects to the Common. The 
flames lit the sky for a distance of sixty miles. 

In the great fire that laid waste to so large a portion 
of Boston it was thought providential that the old land- 
marks were preserved, viz., Christ Church, Faneuil 
Hall, the Old State House, the Old South Church, 
Kings Chapel and the Park Street Spire, besides which 
the Common might have lost its gates and the "Old 
Elm." 



1873 June 13. 

A flower show was exhibited in a tent on the Com- 
mon. 



June 23. 
Annual drill of the school children on the Common. 



October 2. 
A military company from Providence drilled on the 
Common. 



An effort was made to lay another horse car track on 
Tremont Street when the fence on the Common was 
taken down, but replaced in a year. 



The famous Paddock elms planted on the edge of the 
Common by Mayor Adino Paddock, the first coach- 
maker of the town, whose house stood opposite the bury- 



BOSTO^T COMMON 229 

ing ground — were removed to make way for traction 
improvements. It caused great regret. 



It is said of the Common that its beauty is surpassed 
by its historic association. 



The Charles River ; says the American Cyclopedia — 
"A stream rising in Worcester County, Massachusetts, 
and flowing through ^Norfolk and Middlesex Counties 
into Boston harbor. The towns on its banks are Hop- 
kinton, Milford, Bellingham, Franklin, Medway, Med- 
lield, Sherburne, Dover, Dedham, ISTeedham, l^atick, 
Newton, Waltham, Watertown, Brighton and Cam- 
bridge. It affords numerous sites for mills and fac- 
tories, and is navigable to Watertown, 7 m. west of 
Boston. The lower part of the course is the favorite 
training place for the boat clubs of Harvard University. 
It is now proposed to draw from the upper part of this 
river an additional supply of water for Boston." 



1875 Jantjaet 27. 

Large, elaborate, sleighs came into use on the Com- 
mon, the Glohe says : "It is a long, double, runner of 
the usual pattern, painted red, with a head light like a 
juvenile locomotive, and a steering apparatus on the 
tiller principle. It is cushioned quite elegantly and 
has side rests for the feet of the coasters, of whom it 
will accommodate eight or ten. A large, white, 
streamer ornaments the prow, and there are brass trim- 
mings and handles along the sides." It cost two hun- 
dred and forty dollars. 



230 BOSTON COMMON" 

Jantjaet. 
King Kalakuana, of the Sandwich Islands, visits 
Boston and the Common. 



Februaky 13. 
Harper s Weekly (New York), contains a picture of 
"Coasting on Boston Common/' drawn by C. S. Rein- 
hart from a sketch by E. H. Garrett. 



June 17. 

The Centennial Anniversary of the battle of Bunker 
Hill was celebrated by a grand civic and military pro- 
cession when the streets were thronged with strangers 
from all parts of the country. Public buildings, private 
dwellings, and places of business along the route of the 
procession, and in fact everyv\diere, were handsomely 
decorated with flags, bunting and flowers, while inscrip- 
tions denoted battlefleld localities and various deeds of 
valor. At ten o'clock a. m. the troops started from the 
Common and passing out at the corner of Charles 
Street and Boylston Street marched through Boylston, 
Tremont and Beacon Streets passing the reviewing 
stand in front of the State House. 

The History of the (New York) Seventh Regiment 
(1890) by Colonel Emmons Clark, in a description of 
the visit of the "Seventh" to Boston, says: "At eight 
a. m. the Regiment assembled at Horticultural Hall, 
and was escorted by the Eighth Massachusetts Regiment 

to its place in line near the Common The streets 

leading to the State House were thronged with people 
and almost impassable and at every point the Regiment 
was received with great enthusiasm. In front of the 
State House a large platform had been erected, and the 
troops passed in review before Governor Gaston, who 



BOSTON COMMOIT 231 

was attended by Generals Sherman, Burnside, and 
Pope, Vice President Wilson, the Governors of several 
States, the mayors of the principal cities of the country, 
and many other distinguished officials, civic and mili- 
tary. As the Seventh Regiment approached the review- 
ing stand and debouched from the narrow street into 
the State House Plaza, the column of platoons was 
formed into column of companies and the promptness 
and accuracy with which the maneouvre was performed 
excited the astonishment and admiration of the immense 
throng of distinguished people assembled in the vicin- 
ity." 



1876 Febbuary 16. 

The "Old Elm," breaking at the base, fell to the 
ground. It had long had a large decayed cavity, near 
the ground, where boys hid playing hide and seek. 
People rushed to the Common to obtain pieces of wood 
for keepsakes. A chair was made which is now in the 
Public Library, and veneered pictures, by the city ; one 
is in the library of the Historical Society. 



May. 
A stone curb was laid next to Tremont Street on the 
Common. 



July 4. 
The Centennial celebration : Multitudes walked on 
the Common — passing many temporary booths erected 
on the Malls — during the day, while between 50,000 
and 100,000 persons gathered to see a grand display of 
fireworks at night, but who were much disappointed as 
a high wind greatly marred the effects. 



232 BOSTOIn^ COMMOE^ 

1877 January 28. 

The meetings of Moody and Sankey begun at the 
Tabernacle, on Tremont Street, and, hasting for thirteen 
weeks, caused manv to walk to the Common at the close 
of the afternoon services. 



Septembee 17. 

The Army and ISTavy Monument on Flagstaff Hill 
was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies at which 
President Hayes and staff were present and a vast con- 
course of military societies, clubs, organizations and citi- 
zens. The inscription — written by President Charles 
William Eliot, of Harvard University, reads : "To the 
men of Boston who died for their country on Land and 
Sea, in the War which kept the Union whole, destroyed 
Slavery, and maintained the Constitution, the Grateful 
City has built this Monument, that their Example may 
speak to Coming Generations." The Monument is of 
Maine granite, 70 feet high and solid masonry founda- 
tion. Three steps lead to a square stone platform with 
a plinth above, nine feet high, where at the corners are 
pedestals with bronze statues, representing, America, 
Peace, the Sailor, History, the Soldier. And mezzo 
relievos, viz. : Scenes of Departure for the War, the 
Sanitary Commission, Return from the War, the ITavy. 

The Monument cost $75,000. 

In the evening the Monument and Fountain were 
illuminated by calcium lights ; two opposite lights on 
the shores of the Pond focused and illuminated the 
Fountain in successive colors — while, red, blue, green, 
yellow, and purple. The Boston Cadet Band, under 
the leadership of John C. Mullaly, rendered the follow- 
ing selections during the evening. 



bosto:nt coMMOisr 233 

(1) March, "Helmstadt," first time Plaade 

(2) Overture, "Crown Diamonds" Auber 

(3) Concert Waltz, ''Norman" Strauss 

(4) Cornet Solo, "Brilliant" Arhan 

Performed by Walter Emerson. 

(5) Grand Selection, "Dinorah" Meyerbeer 

(6) Caprice, "La Baladine" Lysherg 

(7) Potpourri, "Girofle Girofla" Lecocq 

(8) Fantaisie for Piccolo De Carlo 

Performed by A. Damm. 

(9) Potpourri, "Harvard" Mullaly 

(10) Galop, "Fairy Queen" Sydney Smith 

(11) Medley of National and Popular Airs. 

The "Department for the War" depicted on the bronze 
bas-relief — tablet — Martin Millmore — on the Army and 
Navy Monument, on the Common, shows Governor 
Andrew, standing on the State House steps, near by 
are Longfellow, Archbishop Williams, Rev. Dr. A. H. 
Vinton and other notabilities while General Butler, 
Colonel Shaw and Colonel Cass appear in uniform. 



Five Grand Malls, — the Beacon Street, the Park 
Street, the Tremont Street, the Boylston Street, and 
the Charles Street, with their travelling amusements : 
Punch and Judy, Cameros, Telescopes, Scales, Blowing 
Machines, attract visitors to the Common. 



The Massachusetts Charitable Association desiring 
to erect a teiuporary exhibition building on the Com- 
mon, were met by a strong remonstrance by the citizens 
who defeated the project. 



234 BOSTON COMMON 

Wind mill, Powder House, Flag Staff and Monu- 
ment Hills on the Common. 



The Dial says of the Old South Cloch: "For years 
the Old South Clock has been a Boston institution; 
passersbj, whether for business, or pleasure, or travel, 
have made it a point, no matter how fast they were 
walking, to look up and see what time it is, and to 
regulate watches and their arrangements accordingly. 
And when there was a rumor, or worse, that the Old 
South was to be destroyed, the most indifferent and 
heartless regretted the loss of their old monitor as a 
threat to cut out a piece from their daily life 

The Old South Dial still stands — and goes too, — and 
it is intended and resolved that it shall stand and go 
for the information and correction of Washington 

Street and its passers for many years to come 

The key of our daily chimes is. The Old South shall he 
saved 

The True Value of the Old South. 

The Old Church stands today a fit emblem of the 
State the Puritans founded, and the hierarchy they 
established. The dramatic events recur to the memory 
in rapid succession ; the banishment of Williams ; the 
trial of Mrs. Hutchinson ; the contest with the restored 
Stuarts ; the failure of the Puritan theory of govern- 
ment ; the deadly fanaticism of the witchcraft delusion, 
and then the lethargy of the provincial times in the 
days when England's prime minister boasted that she 
had no history, and our colonial assembly wrangled in 
true English fashion, with their governors over salaries 
and taxes. Close on these scenes followed the French 
war, concluding with the death of Wolfe and the down- 
fall of the French power, paving the way for independ- 



BOSTON^ COMMOIT 235 

ence. In all the succeeding struggles with England 
resulting finally in the arbitration of the sword, the 
Old South itself shared, and the memories of those 
days are inseparable from the dumb materials of which 
it is composed." 

Had the Old South Church been demolished everv 
brick would have been kept as a keepsake and its wood 
taken away in pieces like the "Old Elm" on the Com- 
mon. 

The Common and the Old South Church are the 
historic land marks of Boston. 



1878 January 19. 

Great gathering of working men on the Common. 



April 28. 
Party of Brigade Generals visited Boston and the 
Common. 



July 4. 

A flying machine was exhibited on the Common. 



July 4. 
Fireworks on the Common spoiled by the rain. 



July 28. 

Dennis Kearney, the Sand Lot orator from San 

Francisco, arrived in Boston and visited the Common. 



September 24. 
Hon. James G. Blaine gave a political lecture at 
Faneuil Hall and went to the Common. 



236 BOSTOlSr COMMON 

December 22. 
A statue of Sumner was placed in the Public Garden. 



1879 May 16. 

A walking match took place, under a big tent, on the 
Back Bay. Many walked over the Common. 



May 22. 
Parade and Review on the Common. 



August 6. 
The Poncas visited Boston and the Common. 



October. 
The iron fence, on the east side of the Common, was 
removed to Mount Hope. 



When Dean Stanley visited Boston his first wish, 
expressed to Edward Everett Hale, was that he might 
see the "Old Elm" on the Common. 



1880 September 17. 

At the celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the 
settlement of Boston, the Winthrop Statue was unveiled 
with a reception at Faneuil Hall and exercises at the 
Old South Church. More than 230,000 people came 
from out of town to witness the immense procession 
which, owing to the throng, could hardly pass through 
Hanover Street. 

The evening procession, with its torchlights and 
tableaux, was a notable feature. Gilmore's Band gave 
an evening concert on the Common when the following 
selections were performed: 



BOSTOIT COMMON" 237 

Overture, "Semiramide" Rossini 

Aria for Cornet, "The Lost Chord" Sullivan 

p Mr. J. Salcedo. 

Grand Selection, "Gems of Opera" Meyerbeer 

•Trombone Solo, "Air and Variations" Hartman 

Mr. F. Innes. 

JFinals, "William Tell" Overture Rossini 

Euphronium Solo, "Concerts" Raffayolo 

Sig. Raffayolo. 
Galop: Characteristic, "Coney Island Races". . . .Bosio 
Turkish March, "Advance and Retreat". . . .Michaelis 
Piccolo Solo, variations on "Spring, Gentle Spring" 

Riviere 

Sig. de Carlo. 

New ISTational Anthem, "Columbia" Gilmore 

The concert lasted from 7.30 to 9.30 p. m. 

The extent of the Common is forty-eight acres. 

Three rows of decayed trees were removed from the 
east side of the Common. 



The Public Garden is described as "a garden of 
statues, shrubbery, plants and flowers." 



1882 July 11. 

Re-dedication of the Old State House ; address by 
William H. Whitmore, Esq. Many strolled on the 
Common. 



The reservoir on Beacon Hill was beins; removed. 



238 BOSTON COMMOE" 

1885 :N'ew Year's Day. 

A large reception was given at Howard Ticknors' 
when among those said to have been present were Mrs. 
Louise Chandler Moulton, Dr. Holmes, Professor 
Horsford, Aldrich, the author of Baby Bell, accom- 
panied by his charming wife. Dean Hodges, Mrs. Ole 
Bull, who had given a large party the previous night, 
the Whipples, Oscar Fay Adams, Professor Lane of 
Harvard University, Arlo Bates, Mrs. Kate Gannett 
Wells, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Maude Howe 
Elliott, Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford, authoress 
of "Amber Gods" and "A Thief in the Mght," Mrs. 
Julius Eichberg and daughter, Mrs. Anna Eichburg 
King (now Mrs. John Lane of London). All were 
familiar with the Common. 



April 23. 
Phillip Brooks, D. D., delivered the oration at the 
celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Founda- 
tion of the Boston Latin School, saying that "at a much 
earlier period School Street and the Common, and the 
Charles Eiver were a world in themselves, and that the 
ever recurring life of the new generations, boyhood 
opening into manhood, makes a perpetual inspiration. 
It is the systole and disastole of the city's heart." 



ISTOVEMBER 17. 

At the Sixth Keunion of the "Old School Boys of 
Boston," held at the Hotel Vendome, Mr. Guild, said, 
"I once came up through West Street to the Mall, when 
a game, of football was about to begin on Boston Com- 
mon. There was quite a large assemblage of boys 
from the Mason Street (Adams) School and the Frank- 
lin School We played baseball and hockey right 



BOSTOIvT COMMON" 239 

on the Mall, and Boston Common was the playgroimd 
of the Boston School boys." 



1887 

The "Old Corner Bookstore" erected after the fire of 
1711, and where Anne Hntchinson held seances, stands 
on the corner of Washington and School Streets. It is 
older than any Boston church, thirty years older than 
the original Faneuil Hall, and almost as old as the 
outer walls of the Old State House. It has always 
been a centre where Hawthorne, Sprague, Willis, 
Whipple, Willard, Parsons, Emerson, Longfellow, 
Agassiz, Sumner, Whittier, Holmes, Lowell, Motley 
and hundreds of other bright literary stars have pur- 
chased books which they read during a stroll on the 
Common. 



1888 N'OVEMBEK 5. 

A barred owl and a small hawk were seen in adjoining 
trees on the Common. 



The Crispus Attucks Monument was erected com- 
memorating the victims of the Boston Massacre. The 
design shows "Revolution breaking the chains of 
tyranny" with the names of the martyrs and the scene 
of bloodshed. 



Howells, in April Hopes, — describes the walk of 
Alice and Dan on the Beacon Street Path in the Public 
Garden, thus : "The benches on either side were filled 
with nurse-maids in charge of baby carriages, and of 
young children who were digging in the sand with their 
little beach shovels, and playing their games back and 
forth across the walk unrebuked by the indulgent police- 



240 BOSTOIT COMMO]^ 

men. A number of tliem liad enclosed a square in tlie 
middle of tlie path with four of the benches, which they 
made-believe was a fort. The lovers had to walk round 
it, and the children, chasing one another, dashed into 
them headlong, or, backing off from pursuit, bumped 
up against them. They did not seem to know it, but 
walked slowly on without noticing ; they w^ere not aware 
of an occasional benchful of rather shabby young fel- 
lows who stared hard at the stylish girl and well-dressed 
young man talking together in such intense low tones, 
with rapid interchange of radiant glances." 



1889 

Jonathan and his Continent, — ^by Max O'Eell and 
Jack Allyn, says, "Boston is quite an English city, 
handsomely and solidly built. It has a Public Garden 
in the centre, the effect of which at night is superb. It 
is the most scholarly city in the United States, one of 

the greatest centres of learning in the world The 

English spoken in Boston is purer than any to be heard 
elsewhere in the l^orth. The voices are less harsh and 
nasal, the language ceases to be 'vury, vury Amurra- 
can.' If you think yourself in England as you walk 
along the streets, the illusion becomes complete when 
you hear the well bred people speak." 



Decade 1880-1890. 
Among those who attend the "Friday's" of Mrs. 
Louise Chandler Moulton were Mr. and Mrs. Edmund 
Gosse of London ; Matthew Arnold ; W. D. Llowells ; 
Colonel T. W. Higginson ; Helen Hunt ; Mary Wilkins 
(now Mrs. Freeman) ; Mrs. Clement Waters ; the writer 
on art, Alice Freeman ; President of Wellesley College, 
afterwards Mrs. George Herbert Palmer; and Gov- 



BOSTON COMMON 241 

ernor and Mrs. Claflin, and at other assemblies were 
Bliss Carmen and Edgar Fawcett, of New York, Arthur 
Foote who had rendered some of Mrs. Moulton's lyrics 
in music ; also B. J. Lang and daughter who had set 
some of her songs. There were also the artists I. IT. 
Gangengigl, Winthrop Pierce, John Enneking; Miss 
Porter and Miss Clarke the editors of Poet-Lore ; 
Caroline Ticknor the young authoress ; and among the 
clergy of Boston were Rev. Dr. Charles Gordon Ames 
and Mrs. Ames ; Rev. Dr. Edward Everett Hale ; 
Bishop Phillips Brooks ; Rev, Bernard Carpenter, a 
brother of the Lord Bishop of Ripon, with many other 
distinguished people, all of whom regarded the Common 
with heartfelt pride. 



1891 January 2Y. 

A Frenchman in America, — ^by Max O'Rell, says, 
"Spent the whole evening wandering about Boston, and 
visiting a few interesting places. Beacon Street, the 
Public Gardens, and Commonwealth Avenue are among 
the finest thoro'fares I know. What enormous wealth 
is contained in those miles of huge mansions ! The 
more I see of Boston the more it strikes me as a great 
English city. It has a character of its own, as no other 
American city has excepting perhaps Washington or 
Philadelphia. The solidity of the buildings, the parks, 
the quietness of the women's dresses, the absence of the 
twang in most of the voices, all remind you of Eng- 
land." 



July 4, 

The oration was delivered by Josiah Quincy in 
Faneuil Hall on the one hundred and fifteenth Anni- 
versary of American Independence. Mr. Quincy said 



242 BOSTON COMMON 

that scarcely a trace remained of the Boston that 
listened to the first Fourth of July oration (1Y83). 
Even the ground and even the harbor where the ships 
rode, that those of a century ago would scarcely recog- 
nize them. ISTothing was left hut the Old South Church, 
and Kings Chapel, the Old State House, the Ancient 
Burial Grounds and the Common. 



l^OVEMBEE 31, AT 6 P. M. 

A Golden Eyed Duck was seen in the Pond, in the 
Public Garden. On being approached he flapped his 
wings and flew toward the river. 



1892 Jantjary 21. 

The opening of the new building of the Boston Cham- 
ber of Commerce exercises were held at the old chamber 
at nine o'clock a. m., and the dedicatory exercises took 
place in the new chamber at half -past ten a. m., with an 
oration by Henry M. "Whitney, at the close of which 
many went to the Common. 



ITOVEMBER. 

An Acadian, or Sawwhet, owl was seen perched in 
an elm on Beacon Street, near the corner of Charles 
Street. A boy climbed the tree and came quite close 
to the owl when it flew away. 



1893 January 26. 

As the body of Phillips Brooks was borne from 
Trinity Church fully 10,000 people filled the Square 
all eager to catch a glimpse of the flower covered casket. 
In the out-door service they repeated the Lord's Prayer 
and all sang a hymn the air being played by trumpets. 
Many then walked to the Common. 



BOSTOIsT COMMOI^ 243 

When the remains of John Howard Payne, brought 
to this country from Tripoli, were re-interred in Oak 
Hill Cemetery, Washington, (Jnne 9, 1883) fully 
10,000 persons sang ''Home, Sweet Home." 



1893 ITOVEMBER 23. 

At the Fourteenth Reunion of the "Old School Boys 
of Boston," held at Young's Hotel, Mr. Lane, in relat- 
ing an incident of childhood, said. — "When I was about 
four years of age, I started out to explore the town. 
Evidently I went down Purchase Street, and somehow 
I turned up Summer Street and brought upon Boston 
Common. "Old Wilson," the Crier, was despatched 
in search of me. I became very hungry and was much 
in grief, when a gentleman supplied me with ginger- 
bread." 



The proposed subway excavation, under the Com- 
mon, caused a loud protest by the citizens of Boston 
which was only assented to after long and patient effort. 

1895 July. 

A large Christian convention met that drew thousands 
of people to the city many visiting the Common. 



August. 
The Knights Templar met in convention visiting 
King's Chapel, the Granary Burying Ground, the Old 
South Church, the Old State House, Faneuil Hall, 
Bunker Hill Monument and the Common. Great 
crowds were drawn to the city. 



The subway stations on Tremont Street caused the 



244 BOSTOInT COMMOI^ 

demolition of many old trees changing the picturesque 
outlook of the Common. 



1896 September 21. 

A kingfisher flew over the Granary Burying Ground. 



1897 May 31. 

The monument in honor of Colonel Rohert Gould 
Shaw of the Fifty-fourth (colored) Regiment was 
unveiled on the Common, when imposing ceremonies 
were held in Music Hall. 

Oedee of Exeecises. 

Music Patriotic Airs Instrumental 

Meeting called to order by the Chief Marshall, and 
Chairman of the Committee on Monument called to 
preside. 
Prayer. . . .Rev. Edward H. Hall, Chaplain of the Day. 

Greeting to His Excellency the Governor, Roger 
Wolcott, and Transfer of the Monument to His Honor 
the Mayor of Boston, by the Chairman of the Commit- 
tee. Address of His Excellency, Governor Wolcott, 
Presiding officer. Acceptance by His Honor, Mayor 
Quincy. 

Chorus, "Our Heroes." 
Oration, "Battle Hymn of the Republic." 
Address : President Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee 

Institute. 
Music, "America"* — Instrumental. 
*A11 joined in singing the air. 

The bronze has relief of the colored Regiment by 
Augustus St. Gaudens is one of the most artistic designs 
in the world. 

The "Shaw Memorial" by Augustus St. Gaudens, has 



BOSTOJN^ COMMOIT 245 

been drawn in water colors by diaries Herbert Wood- 
bury. 



1898 April 25. 

A winter Wren was seen in the Granary Burying 
Ground. It remained two days. 



A stone was erected over the grave of James Otis the 
patriot orator of the Revolution, — "whose tongue was a 
flame of fire." The inscription reads : "Here lies 
buried James Otis, orator and patriot of the Eevolu- 
tion, famous for his argument against writs of assist- 
ance. Born 1725. Died 1783. Massachusetts Sons 
of the Revolution, 1898." 

A stone boulder to be erected over the grave of the 
Revolutionary patriot Samuel Adams, which bears the 
inscription, "Here lies buried, Samuel Adams, Signer 
of the Declaration of Independence, Governor of this 
Commonwealth, a leader of men and an ardent Patriot. 
Born 1722. Died 1803. Massachusetts Society, Sons 
of the Revolution, 1898." 



Boston Neighbors, — a charming novel, by Anna Blake 
Poor, says in the following extracts, "She almost hoped 
that he would not; and yet, as she entered the Public 
Garden a little later than usual the next morning, what 
a bound her heart gave as she saw him, evidently wait- 
ing for her, he said at once, . . . 'Miss Parke, will you 
walk a little way on the Common with me ? There are 
not so many people there, and I have something I wish 
very much to say to you.'. . . .Simple as Margaret was, 
it was impossible for her not to see that Mr. Smith 
'meant something,' only he did not have at all the air 
that she had supposed natural to the occasion. He 



246 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

looked neither confident nor doubtful, but calm and a 
little sad. Perhaps it was not the great 'something' 
after all, but an inferior 'something else.' She walked 
along with him in silence, her own face perplexed and 
doubtful enough. But when they reached the long 
walk across the loneliest corner of the Common, almost 
deserted, at this season, he said without further pre- 
face. . . .'I must let you know how much I love you!' 
.... 'Margaret, tell me if you can love me ever so little ?' 
.... 'How can I help it, when you have been so good to 
me ?' . . . . 'Oh !' she went on, all radiant now with 
beauty and happiness." 



1899 

Orators appear on the Common on Sundays, and seen 
from club windows and dwellings, preach to the masses. 

America today, — by William Archer, says; Boston, 
— "One can only repeat the obvious truth that it is like 
an exceptionally dignified and stately English town. 
One instinctively looks around for a cathedral, and finds 

the State House in its stead She ought certainly 

to treat herself to a worthy Emerson Monument on the 
Common, whither the boy Emerson used to drive his 
mother's cows; not of course, a Gothic pile like that 
which commemorates the genius of Scott, but a statue 
by the incomparable St. Gaudens, under a modest classic 
canopy." 

Close of the 19th Century. 
The landscape color of Boston was greatly changed 
during the 19th century, by the filling up of the Back 
Bay, an arm of the Charles Kiver, dividing the Com- 
mon from the hills of Brookline and extending south- 



BOSTO^T COMMON 247 

erlj and easterly to tlie ISTeck that connects Boston and 
Roxburj. 



Plans to widen Tremont Street and to make a 
straight line of street cars over the Common to connect 
with Columbus Avenue or to make an open trench 
with pedestrian bridges caused a loud public sentiment 
to cry ''Save the Common." 



1900 May 9. 

Barn Swallows, the earliest of the season, were seen 
in the Public Garden. They generally come in the 
latter part of May. 

May 15. 
A Gray-Cheeked Thrush was first seen in the Public 
Garden. 

May 19. 
A Golden Winged Warbler was seen in the Public 
Garden. 

May 20. 
A Prothonotary Warbler, in bright orange yellow 
plumage was seen flying through the air side of the 
Pond, in the Public Garden. 

May 20. 
A Black Warbler was seen, on the grass, in the 
Public Garden. 

May 20. 
Two Yellow Breasted Chats were seen in the grass, 
near the Washington Equestrian Statue, in the Public 
Garden. 

May 23. 
A Prairie Warbler came into the Public Garden. 
They are rarely seen. 



248 BOSTO:>T COMMON 

Mat 23. 
A Scarlet Tanager, with, bright plumage, flew among 
the boughs of the trees around the Pond, on the Island, 
in the Public Garden. 

May 24. 
The last visit of two Wood Pewees in the Public 
Garden. One was in song the other silent. 



December 31. 

The Dawn of the ISTew Century 
was observed by appropriate exercises : 

At a quarter of an hour before midnight the State 
House was lighted by a vast array of swinging lanterns 
with a vast concourse of people over and on the Com- 
mon. The Handel, Haydn and Cecilia Societies, four 
cornetists, Governor Crane, Dr. Hale, and several other 
persons sat on the balcony. The '^tattoo" or "taps" were 
sounded, a stanza of Old Hundred — 

"Be Thou, O God exalted high," 
was sung and selections from the ISTineteenth Psalm 
were read by Dr. Hale: "A thousand years in Thy 
sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch 

in the night So teach us to number our days that 

we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Sewall's 
hymn, composed two centuries previously, the second 
line reads: 

"Tame Thou the rigor of our clime," 
was sung and the trumpeters then blew loud notes when 
silence followed. The bell on Kings Chapel sounding 
slow, with bells and whistles in all parts of the city, 
solemnly told the multitude that the 

Old Century 
had gone. 

On Beacon Hill the large crowd — with Governor 



BOSTON COMMON 249 

Crane — bowing their heads, repeated the Lord's Prayer 
and sang "America." Dr. Hale pronounced the clos- 
ing words, "God bless our City, our State and Our 
Country." The trumpets sounding the Reveille closed 
the exercises. Dr. Hale said, "I do not think they 
thought of it as a religious service when they came, but 
they all did when they went away." The scene was 
most impressive. 



The Common has lost much that was picturesque in 
the last century. 



Love in a Cloud, — by Mr. Bates, speaks of the lovers 
Jack Neligage and Alice Endicott who, when little 
children, played on the path of the Public Garden. 
"The smart nursery maids whose occupation it was to 
convey their charges thither and keep them out of the 
fountains, between whiles exchanging gossip about the 
parents of the babies, had begun the talk. The opin- 
ions of fashionable society are generally first found by 
servants, and then served up with a garnish of fancifully 
distorted facts for the edification of their mistresses; 
and in due time the loves of the Public Garden, reported 
and decorated by the nursery maids, serve as topics for 
afternoon calls. Master Jack was known to be in love 
with Miss Alice before either of them could have written 
the word, and in this case the passion had been so last- 
ing that it excited remark not only for itself but as an 
extraordinary case of unusual constancy." 



1901 January 14. 

A JSTorthern Strike, the first in eight years, was seen 

in the Public Garden. They usually frequent the fens. 



250 bosto:n common 

May 1. 

A small flock of Yellow Palm Warblers came to the 
Common. They sang freely. 



Oliver Wendell Holmes, says, in Over the Tea Cups 
— "Ever since I had a ten cent look at the transit of 

Venns through the telescope in the Mall, the earth 

has been wholly different to me from what it used to be." 



The Sentimentalists, — by Piers, alludes to the walks 
of Virginia Kent who passed many hours in the Public 
Garden where she sat on a bench, near the gate, at Com- 
monwealth Avenue, — "to watch the gardeners who were 
taking the stocks out of a flower bed and laying them in 
a wheelbarrow, then moulding and smoothing the 

earth She contrasted these good workmen with the 

men sitting about on benches reading newspapers; and 
wondered what occupation they could have ; it seemed 
to her a witless sort of life. It did not occur to her that 
most of them were reading the newspapers in search of 
occupation From the Pond, nearby, came the fre- 
quent tapping of a gong as the swan-boats, with gay 
awnings, made their leisurely circuits and discharged 
the tourists." 



The novel — Truth Dexter — by Mrs. Mary McN^eil, 
tells of Craighead who, entering the Public Garden, 
from Arlington Street, proceeds to the house of Mrs. 
Adams on Beacon Street, "when the flower beds were 
brilliant with crocuses, tulips, and hyacinths. The 
smell of the upturned earth was pungent with life. In 
a single night Spring's bridal tunic had by fairy looms 
been woven." 



BOSTON COMMO:^^ 251 

1902 March 13. 

The Slate-colored Junco came into the Public Garden. 
They have also been seen on the Common. 



April 23. 
A Rusty Blackbird was seen on the Common. 



April 23. 

The Swamp Sparrow was seen, for the only time, on 
the Common. They have appeared in the Public Gar- 
den, but never to stay more than a day, as there are no 
damp grounds. 



May 7. 
The Water Thrush made its appearance in the Public 
Garden. They prefer the vicinity of the Pond rather 
than the trees. 



May. 
A pair of Bluebirds, apparently intending to nest near 
Park Square, were seen on the Common. 



1903 March 6. 

The Song Sparrow came into the Public Garden 
before the snow had disappeared or the ice floated, 
broken, in the Ponds. They also appear on the Com- 
mon their notes resembling those of the Purple Finch. 



April 5. 
A Pine Warbler was seen in the trees of the small 
island in the Public Garden. 

April 23. 

The Ruby-crowned Kinglet first came to the Public 



252 BOSTON COMMO:t^^ 

Garden. Their sweet song is heard both in the spring 
and the Autumn. 

April. 
The Phoebe was seen on the Common and Public 
Garden. Thej were always silent. 

May 20. 
A Night Heron was seen, about the Pond, in the 
Public Garden at an early hour in the morning. 



1904 April 7. 

A Wliite-breasted Nuthatch was seen among the trees, 
on Monument Hill, on the Common. 



October 17. 
The call notes of the Palm Warbler were heard, on 
the grass, in the Public Garden. 



October 19. 
A Java Sparrow was seen, on the slope of Monument 
Hill, on the Common, 



October 22. 

The notes of a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher were heard on 
the northerly side of the Public Garden. 

The Field Sparrow was not seen in the Public Garden. 

Only one Warbling Yireo had been seen, in the Public 
Garden, in three years. 



1905 March 19. 

A Hairy Woodpecker made a long stay in the Public 
Garden. This was a second spring visit. 



BOSTO]^ COMMON" 253 

April 24, 
A broad winged Hawk was seen perched in an elm 
beside the Frog Pond on the Common. 



April 25. 
The earliest visit of the Towhee, or Chewink, to the 
Public Garden. Thej have never been seen on the 
Common. 

May 3. 
A Solitary Sand Piper came into the Public Garden 
and lit on a stone near the Pond. 

May 7. 
Two Yellow-throated Vireos were seen in the Public 
Garden. 

May 12. 
The Canadian Warbler was first seen in the Public 
Garden. They are distinguished by a black necklace 
on a yellow breast. 

May 15. 
Wilson's Warbler first appeared in the Public Garden 
They frequent the trees about the Pond. 

May 16. 
A Bank Swallow was seen, for the second time, flying 
over the Pond in the Public Garden. 

May 25. 
A Myrtle Warbler was seen in the Public Garden. 
They have occasionally appeared on the Common. 

May 26. 
Thirty Cedar Waxwings — the largest flock — were 
seen in the Public Garden. 

May 27. 
The largest number of Black Poll Warblers were seen, 
among the willows, in the Public Garden. They always 
appear in the spring. 



254 BOSTON COMMON 

Mat. 

A beautiful Rose-breasted Grosbeak sweetly sang 
perched on the bough of an elm on the Common, which 
extended well out on Beacon Street, his notes breaking 
the quiet of the neighborhood where the residents still 
slept at an early morning hour. 



1906 March 1. 

Henry James says, in an article, entitled "Boston," 
published in the Fo7'tnightly Review, — "It was on two 
or three such loitering occasions, wondering and invok- 
ing pauses that had a little vaguely and helplessly per- 
haps, the changed crest of Beacon Hill for their field — 
it was at certain of these moments of changed, or rather 
chilled, contemplation that I felt my small cluster of 
early associations shrivel to a scarce discernible point. 
I recall a Sunday afternoon in particular when I hung 
about the now vaster platform of the State House for a 
near view of the military monuments erected there, the 
statues of Generals Hooker and Devens, and for the 
charm at once, and the pang of feeling the whole back- 
ward vista, with all its features, fall from that eminence 
into grey perspective. The top of Beacon Hill quite 
rakes, with but a slightly shifting range, the old more 

definite Boston 

"Let me at all events say for the Park Street Church, 
while I am still on my hilltop, that the edifice persist- 
ently 'holds the note,' as yet, the note of the old felicity, 
and remains, by so doing, a precious public servant." 



April 3. 
The Purple Pinch was first seen in the Public Garden. 



BOSTON GOMMOIT 255 

Apkil 30. 
A Cat bird first came into the Public Garden. They 
are usually silent. 

May 13. 
A House Wren was seen on the beds and shrubs in 
the Public Garden. Their visits are very infrequent. 



May 23. 

The song of a K^orthern Flicker was heard on the roof 
of the Sears residence on Arlington Street. Thev fre- 
quently flew to and fro to the Common. 



June 16. 
A Bob White flew, near the Everett Statue, in the 
Public Garden. 

OCTOBEE 26. 
Six brown Creepers were in the large trees in the 
Public Garden. They come regularly in October. 

October. 
There was an unusual number of Red-breasted Nut- 
hatches in the Public Garden. 



December. 
BlacJcivoods Magazine, an article by Charles Whibley, 
says: — "The constant mark of Boston is a demure 
gaiety. An air of quiet festivity encompasses the 
streets. The houses are elegant, but sternly ordered . . . 
The Mall in Beacon Street, if it is the pride, is also 
characteristic of Boston. For Boston is a city of parks 
and trees. The famous Common, as those might 
remember who believe that America sprang into being 
in a night, has been sacred for nearly three hundred 
vears. Since 1 640 it has been the centre of Boston. It 

tj 

has witnessed the tragedies and comedies of an eventful 



256 BOSTON COMMOIsr 

history And it is impossible to forget, as you walk 

its ample spaces, the many old associations which it 
brings with it from the past." 



The Wood Thrush was first seen in the Public 
Garden. 



1907 Febrtjaky 12. 

The Redpool, with its characteristic call, was first 
seen in the Public Garden. 

March 23. 
A young Pine Grosbeak was seen, for a few minutes, 
in the Public Garden, early in the morning. 

March 26. 
The Red Winged Blackbird first came into the Public 
Garden. 

April 10. 
Two hundred and fifty Fox Sparrows were seen feed- 
ing on the refuse at the bottom of the Pond, where the 
water had been drawn off, in the Public Garden. 



April 22. 
Four Vesper Sparrows were seen on the west end of 
Monument Hill. They were also on the level of the 
Parade Ground on the Common. 

May 1. 
The Chipping Sparrows showed a preference for the 
Common and were seen on the slope of the hill. 



May 10. 
Wilson's Thrush was first seen on the Common. 
Their song is especially loud on a damp day when it has 
been heard above the din of the city. 



BOSTON COMMON 25Y 

May 14. 

The first Bobolink was seen flying over the tulip beds 
in the centre path in the Public Garden. 

May 14. 
Two Yellow Warblers sang in the Public Garden. 

May 18. 
A Night Heron flew into the Public Garden at an 
early hour in the morning. The weather was cloudy. 

May 19. 
The notes of the cuckoo were heard in the Public 
Garden. The only time. 

May 20. 
Five King birds were seen in a tree, in the Public 
Garden. 

May 22. 
Ten Magnolia Warblers were in the Public Garden. 
They usually sing. 

May 23. 
A Solitary Sand piper flew, near the Pond, in the 
Public Garden. 

May 30. 
The Cliff Swallow came, for the second (record) 
time, into the Public Garden. They come, skimming 
over the Pond, on cloudy or misty days. 

^Iay. 
An American Redstart was heard singing in the 
Public Garden. It remained eight, or ten days. 

October 19. 
A flock of twenty-one American Pipits were seen 
flying over the Public Garden, calling as they passed. 

October 22. 
Eight Canada Geese were seen, flying southward over 
the Public Garden. 



258 BOSTON COMMOIIT 

The Spotted Sand piper was seen three times, in the 
Public Garden, this year. 

The Tree Swallow was seen flying back and fourth, 
across the Pond, in the Public Garden. They come in 
May. 

The Blue-headed Vires was seen, the fourth time, in 
the Public Garden and remained for a day. They 
never sang. 

Twice the usual number of Black and White Warblers 
came into the Public Garden remaining three, or four 
days, the same season. 

The greatest number of Brown Thrushes were 
perched, in the top of a tree, in the Public Garden. 



1908 IMakch 20. 

Pive King birds were seen in a tree in the Public 
Garden. 

Maech 20. 
A Downy Woodpecker made another visit, sounding 
his rattle call, in the Public Garden. They were also 
seen on the Common. 

March 27. 
The Tree Sparrow was seen bathing in the Pond in 
the Public Garden. 

March 31. 

The Savanna Sparrows appeared on the Common 

and in the Public Garden. Their visits were frequent. 

April 10. 
American Goldfinches were first seen in the Public 
Garden. It was among their first appearances. 



April 28 
Kinglet was seen in t 
the Beacon Street Mall 



A Golden Crowned Kinglet was seen in the elms of 



BOSTON COMMON 259 

May 1. 

The Chipping Sparrows showed a preference for the 
Common and were seen on the slope of the hilh 



May 6. 
A Hermit Thrush nested on grounds at the corner of 
Beacon and Arling-ton Streets. They are very abundant 
in the Public Garden. 

May 12. 
A Siskin was seen in the Public Garden. They were 
quite rare. 



May 12. 
Five White Crowned Sparrows, in song, were on the 
Common. 



May 12. 

About fifty, the largest number of White-throated 
Sparrows were counted on the Common and in the 
Public Garden. 



May 12 
e number of J^ashville Warblers car 
Common. 



A large number of J^ashville Warblers came to the 



May 12. 
Two Parula Warblers were on the Common. They 
abounded in song. 



May 12. 
The song of the Black-throated Blue Warbler was 
heard on the Common. 



260 BOSTON COMMON 

May 12. 

Two Chestnut-sided Warblers were seen on the Com- 
mon. 



May 12. 
Two Maryland Yellow Throats were seen on the 
Common. 



May 12. 
A Black-throated Green Warbler was singing on the 
Common. 



May 13. 
The first Robin of the season appeared on the Com- 
mon. They are among the first to appear in the spring. 



May 16. 
A Cape May Warbler came for the third time, into 
the Public Garden. Leaving the Garden it flew out 
over the buildings on Boylston Street. 

May 18. 
An Olive Backed Thrush was seen, near the statue, 
in the Public Garden. Their song resounds. 

May 22. 
A Bay-breasted Warbler, with fifteen other warblers, 
were seen in the Public Garden. 



May 24 

A ISTight-hawk was heard over Beacon Hill in the 
evening. 



May 24. 



A Humming Bird visited the Public Garden. 



BOSTOis" COMMOI^ 261 

May 24. 
The Yellow Bellied Flycatcher visited the Public 
Garden. They were silent. 

May 24. 
A Tennessee Warbler was seen near the Everett 
statue in the Public Garden. 

May 26. 
Thirty Chimney Swifts were seen flying over the 
Public Garden. 

May 2Y. 
A European Goldfinch was seen picking on the grass 
near the Pond in the Public Garden. 

May 30. 

A black billed Cuckoo was seen on the bough of a 
large willow at the northwest corner of the Public 
Garden. 

June. 
A Blue Jay was heard in the Public Garden, 

July 3. 

A Red-eyed Vireo was heard on the Charles Street 

side of the Public Garden. Their visits are very rare. 



September. 
Mr. George F. Parkman, a wealthy citizen of Boston, 
whose residence commanded a fine view of the Common, 
died leaving a large fortune and bequeathing a fund of 
over five millions whose income was "to be ajDplied to 
the maintenance and improvement of the Common and 
the Parks now existing." The document also reads : 
"to the City of Boston in the hope and expectation that 
the Boston Common shall never be diverted from its 
present use as a public park for the benefit and enjoy- 
ment of its citizens." 



262 BOSTOIT COMMON^ 

October 9. 

A European Blackbird was seen in a IsTorwaj maple, 

and ten days later, on the limb of an English hawthorn. 

It was again seen on the beach of the Garden at the 

head of Marlborough Street. 

October 17. 
A Connecticut Warbler was seen in a rose bed, near 
Arlington Street, in the Public Garden. 

October. 

Two Sapsuckers made a short visit to the Public 

Garden. Thej did not stay as long as the Woodpecker. 

^November 5. 
Two White-winged Crossbills flew over the Public 
Garden towards the Cone trees in the suburbs. 

November. 
The Chicadee is often seen in the Public Garden. 

December 26. 
An American Crow was perched in the Public Garden 
and another was on the Common. Two crows were 
once seen in a nest on Beacon Street near the Somerset 
Club and a nestling once fell to the ground and was 
taken into the Puritan Club on Spencer Street. 



December 30. 

A small Screech Owl w^as seen on the bough of a 

linden tree, near Joy Street, on the Common, and, as 

night came, it made two short flights toward the Frog 

Pond and the Union Club House. 



The nest of a Baltimore Oriole was seen on the top 
bough of a willow, near the boat landing, on the Beacon 
Street Mall. 



Some Bronzed Grackles flew over the Common. 



BOSTON COMMON 263 

Tlie first Cow-bird was seen on the Common and 
Public Garden. 



1909 

William Winter, in Old Friends, in the chapter en- 
titled "Old Bohemian Days" says, "The Boston of today 
presents a strong contrast with the Boston of fifty or sixty 
years ago. Now it is an Irish Roman Catholic city. 
Then it was an American Puritan city. Now it is spa- 
cious and splendid. Then it was comparatively small 
and staid. Now it is pervaded with commotion and the 
attendant racket. Then it was all tranquility. Now it 
does not hold undisj)uted and undisputable pre-eminence 
in literature and journalism. Then it was — and was 
rightly called, — the Athens of America. In those days 
I was familiar with every part of it. As a boy I dwelt 
and sported on old Fort Hill, since reduced to a plain, 
and made my playground all along the waterside, from 
Constitution Wharf to Charlestown Bridge. The Com- 
mon, the Back Bay; the dry docks, the India Wharf 
warehouses, of which the doors often stood open, liberat- 
ing delicious, alluring odors of cinnamon and cedar; 
the T Wharf with its story of Revolutionary times ; the 
granite Custom House, then new, and seeming wonder- 
ful ; the Quincy Market, then considered a marvel of 
architecture, — all those things, and many more, were 
known to me. Many a time did I gaze, awe-stricken at 
the haunted mansion, deserted and silent, frowning 
behind its huge walls, in High Street, called and known 
as ^Harris's Folly.' Many a time did I rove through 
Theatre Alley and look with juvenile curiosity on the 
theatre in Federal Street, — little dreaming that the 
stage was to be a principal theme of my thoughts and 
writings throughout a long laborious life. From the 



264 BOSTON COMMON 

top of Fort Hill there was, in the vicinity of Hamilton 
Street, a mysterious winding stairway of stone, down 
which the adventurous truant could make his way to the 
precincts of the docks, where much of my boyhood was 
spent, in consort with other vagrant lads; and many a 
happy hour did I pass there, sometimes practically in- 
vestigating newly landed cargoes of sugar; sometimes 
reclining on the sun-warmed planks of the silent piers 
and dreaming over the prospect of the moving ship and 
the distant islands of Boston harbor," 



1910 

"A Bird's-eye View of Boston in 1850" is in the 
Boston Public Library. 

A "picture of the Hancock House," presented by John 
Hancock to Samuel Adams to be used as a fire board, is 
in the possesison of the Misses Storer of Cambridge. 

Paul Kevere's engraving of the "Liberty Pyramid," 
erected on the Common, on the day of the celebration of 
the Repeal of the Stamp Act, May 19, 1766, and burned 
on that night, is in the Boston Athenaeum. 

A "Prospective View of part of the Common," from 
a water color drawing by Christian Renwick, 1768, is 
now in the possession of the Concord Antiquarian 
Society. It shows the camp of the 29th Regiment, field 
pieces, tents, etc., and was "taken from the grove" in 
the Common, October, 1768. 

A "Staffordshire Platter," beautifully painted with 
"Cows on the Common," is in the collection of E. R. 
Warren, Brookline. 

"Tremont Street Looking North," from a water color 
drawing thought to have been painted by a daughter of 
General Knox, about 1800," is in the Boston Public 
Library. 



BOSTO^^ COMMON 265 

"The Common and Beacon Street, 1804-1811" from 
a water color drawing, is in the Boston Public Library. 

A picture of "Tremont Street Mall, showing Colon- 
nade Row" that once appeared on a sheet of music is in 
the collection of the late Dr. J. F. Aver. 

A "View of the Back Bay, Charles Street and the 
Common, Boston," — from a sketch taken from a balcony 
of 61 Beacon Street, in 1823, is in the Boston Athe- 
naeum. 

"Boston Common, 1830," from a water color painted 
by George Harvey, is in the possession of the Bostonian 
Society. 

"The Pavillion," erected for the Whig celebration on 
the Common, Fourth of July, 1831, and reproduced by 
Pendleton, Boston, is in the Boston Public Library. 

"Encampment of the Boston Rifle Rangers on the 
Boston Common," lithographed and published by Henry 
Prentice in 1842, and which first appeared on a sheet 
of music, is in the Boston Public Library. 

A "View of the Grand Masschusetts Washington 
Convention" held on the Common, May 30, 1844, taken 
from a lithograph published by F. Gleason, Boston, is 
in the Boston Public Library. 

"Tremont Street in 1843," drawn on stone by W. 
Sharp from an original by P. Harry, is in the Boston 
Public Library. 

A photograph of the "Gates of the Boston Common 
at Park Square," is in the possession of the Boston 
Athenaeum. 



1911 Apkii. 17. 

A fire broke out on the ground floor of the State 

House endangering the entire building. The blaze 

started in a restaurant and was discovered by a pedes- 



266 BOSTON COMMON 

trian early in the morning. The flames were confined 
by the firemen to the restaurant, though some damage 
was done by the smoke and water. 



May 15. 
The New York Times says, "Boston (14) An Ordi- 
nance was submitted by the Mayor to the City Council 
consolidating the present Park, Public Grounds, Bath 
and ]\Iusic Departments into the Park and Recreation 

Department A baseball league is in process of 

formation. There will also be swimming competition, 
with provisions for girls as well as boys The Ordi- 
nance covers the city parks, public grounds, beaches, 
baths, playgrounds, indoor and outdoor gymnasiums, 
athletic fields, summer band concerts, winter indoor 
concerts, etc." The Common figures prominently. 



Conclusion. 
The Common was bought for one hundred and fifty 
dollars in 1634. It now has an endowment of five mil- 
lions. Its future is assured. 



The sunsets, and tinted skies, seen from the Com- 
mon, are ever one of the features. 



Other Extracts From Fiction 



MY SOUTHERN FEIEIs^DS 

hy 
Edmund Kikke White, 1863. 

^'Long weeks went by, but no answer came; and 
again she wrote him. 

"One day, not long after sending this last letter, as 
she was crossing the Common to her attic in Charles 
Street, she met him. He was alone, and saw her, but 
attempted to pass her without recognition. She stood 
squarely in his way, and told him she would be heard. 
He admitted having received her letters, but said he 
could do nothing for her." pp. 32. 



"After a time she rose and left the house. As she 
walked down Beacon Street, the sun was sinking in 
the west, and its red glow mounted midway up the 
heavens. As she looked at it, the sky seemed one great 
molten sea, its hot, livid waves surging all around her. 
She thought it came nearer ; that it set on fire the green 
Common and the great houses, and shot fierce, hot 
flames through her brain and into her very soul. For 
a moment she was paralyzed, and sunk to the ground; 
then, springing to her feet, she flew to her child. She 



268 BOSTOl^ COMMON 

bounded down the long hill, and up the steep stairways, 
and burst into the room of the good w^oman who was 
tending him, shouting : Tire ! fire ! The world is on 
fire!' 

''She caught him up, and darted away. She flew 
down Charles Street, across the Common, and through 
the crowded thoroughfares, till she reached India 
Wharf, all the while muttering, 'Water, water!' — 
water, to quench the fire in her blood, in her brain, in 
her very soul. 

"She paused on the pier, and gazed for a moment at 
the dark, slimy flood; then she plunged down, down, 
where all is forgetfulness !" pp. 33. 



A Politician's Daughter, by Myra Sawyer Hamlin, 
1886. " — Miss Harcourt had always breathed and had 
her own being. Aside from the fact that she would be 
unacceptable to the Beacon Street set, as the daughter 
of a politician, would not the Beacon Street set be tire- 
some to her, with its afternoon teas, where the legends 
of old families were endlessly served up in ancestral 
tea-cups, and the virtues of the old bitter against the 
disabilities of the new ? They Avere very respectable 
but very slow, those afternoon teas." pp. 68. 



Roses of Shadow, a I^ovel, by T. R. Sullivan, 1885. 
— "The word dinner is a reminder that its hour was a 
merry one at the old 'Aegean.' Men dropped in between 
five and seven to dine, two or three together, in a large 
room on the second floor overflowing an irregular en- 
closure behind the house ; the servants called this patch 
of ground 'the garden,' but there flourished in it only 
dusty grass and vines with a restless dwarf of a foun- 
tain, that kept a gilt ball bobbing up and down its tiny 



BOSTOIi[ COMMON" 269 

jet all the summer time. After dinner, coffee and 
segars were to be had in the library or, weather per- 
mitting, on the stone balcony fronting the street and 
the double row of great English elms in the mall that 
bounds the Common. What sunsets those were to be 
lazily admired or ignored according to the digestive 
mood of the moment ! The new club house turns its 
back upon them." pp. 2. 



Miss Brooks. A Story, by Eliza Orne White, 1890. 

"It was a delicious afternoon. The maples on the 
Common were nearly in full leaf while the later elms 
were enveloped in a delicate green mist. An east wind, 
softened by the distance which it had traveled since 
leaving the sea, had gathered something of the fragrance 
of the apple-blossoms in the Brookses garden. It ex- 
pressed to the sense of smell what the faint colors 
showed to the eye, while the song of robins and blue 
birds completed the impression to the ear. Every sense 
was penetrated with the beauty of the spring." pp. 31. 



The Chippendales. By Robert Grant, 1909. 

"On his way home from the office on the previous 
afternoon he had made a detour through the so-called 
Back Bay. He had walked down the sunny slope of 
Beacon Hill from the State House, where the houses 
are only on one side, past the Common and along the 
sidewalk which skirts the Public Garden." pp. 48. 



A Boston Girl. A story of Boston, Bar Harbor and 
Paris, 1886. 

"Probably the first out-of-door objects my infant eyes 
rested on were the magnificent elms across the street, in 
the grand old Park which bears the modest name of 



270 BOSTON COMMON 

Boston Common, My earliest travels probably were 
along these sliady paths around the Frog Pond, down 
across Charles Street, and through the Public Gardens 
— in a baby carriage." pp. 9 and 10. 



A Boston Girl's Ambition. By Virginia F, Town- 
send, 1887. 

"They found minutes to spare for the Public Garden. 
They saw the tulips in all their glory ; a blaze of color 
that rivalled the sunsets ; they lingered by the Pond, or 
among the brown paths, cooled with dews, and flecked 
with shadows." pp. 143. 



Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, by Oliver Wendell 
Holmes, 1891. 

"I glide around the Back Bay, down the stream, up 
the Charles to Cambridge and Watertown, up the 
Mystic, round the wharves in the wake of steamboats, 
which leave a swell after them delightful to rock upon ; 
I linger under the bridges. Then back to my moor- 
ings at the foot of the Common." pp. 164-5, 



The Philistines, by Arlo Bates, 1889. 

— "While Helen and Herman were walking across 
the Common to find her, JSTinitta was lying amid a 
heap of gorgeous stuffs and cushions in Fenton's studio, 
while he painted and talked after his fashion." pp. 71. 



Pirate Gold, by F, J. Stimson (J, S. Dale), 1896. 

"The next morning, old Mr, James Bowdoin got up 
even earlier than usual, with an undefined sense of 
pleasure, as was his wont, he walked across the street 
to sit half an hour before breakfast in the Common. 
The old crossing-sweeper was already there, to receive 



BOSTOI^ COMMOIT 271 

his penny, and the orange woman expectant, sold her 
apex orange to him for a silver thri' penny bit as his 
bef ore-breakfast — " pp. 125. 



The Bostonians. A ISTovel, by Henry James, 1886. 

— "Basil Ransom, meanwhile, put the question to 
Mrs Luna — for Mrs. Luna when they reached Beacon 
Street, would not hear of his leaving her to go her way 
alone, would not in the least admit his plea that he had 
only an hour or two more in Boston." pp. 96. 

— "There were nights of deep snow-fall when Charles 
Street was white and muffled and the door-bell fore- 
doomed to silence which seemed little islands of lamp- 
light, of enlarged and intensified vision." pp. 175. 



The Rebels, or Boston before the Revolution, by the 
author of "Hobomok," 1850. 

"In the October following, the regiment with several 
ships of war, arrived in Boston harbor, and drew up 
as if to blockade the town. In a few days, the 
barracks at the Castle, the Town House, and Faneuil 
Hall, were filled ; and a long line of tents, here and there 
surmounted by the red cross standard, stretched across 
our beautiful Common. Wherever the eye turned, it 
rested on British uniforms ; — wherever the bright sun 
glanced, it was reflected by British steel." pp. 226. 



Lionel Lincoln, by J. Fenimore Cooper. 

"Lionel had walked from the dwelling of Mrs. Lech- 
mere to the foot of Beacon Hill, and had even toiled up 
some part of the steep ascent — continued to ascend until 
he gained the summit of the eminence. There arose 
from the town itself a distant buzzing, like the hum of 
suppressed agitation, and lights were seen to glide along 



272 BOSTON COMMOI^ 

tlie streets, or flit across the windows, in a manner 
which denoted that a knowledge of the expedition had 
become general within the dwellings. Lionel turned 
his head towards the Common, and listened long and 
anxiously, but in vain, to detect a single sound that 
could betray any unusual stir among the soldiery. 
Towards the interior, the darkness of night had fallen 
heavily, dimming the amphitheatre of hills that en- 
circled the place, and enshrouding the vales and low- 
lands between them and the water with an impenetrable 
veil of gloom." pp. 104. 



The Fate of Mansfield Humphreys, by Richard 
Grant White, 1884. 

"But Margaret's great delight was the Common. To 
this she led Humphrey's step whenever they went out 
together ; into this she wandered alone sometimes when 
he was from her. 'This,' she said, 'is something like a 
park; although indeed it's not a very large sort of 
place. But one feels at rest and at home in it. And 
what beautiful trees!' " pp. 254. 



Twice Told Tales, by ISTathaniel Hawthorne. 

" 'Peace, silly child,' cried he, at last more harshly 
than he had ever before addressed the gentle Alice. 
'The rebuke of a king is more to be dreaded than the 
clamor of a wild, misguided multitude. Captain 
Lincoln, it is decided. The fortress of Castle William 
must be occupied by the royal troops. The two remain- 
ing regiments shall be billeted in the town, or encamped 
upon the Common.' " Vol. 2, pp. 298. 



A Little Upstart, a ISTovel, by William H. Rideing, 

1885. 



BOSTO:^ COMMON 273 

"One of the charms of the Common is that it is in 
the very heart of the city ; it is as central as the Bois de 
Boulogne would be if it were in the site of the Place de 
I'Opera, or as St. James Park if that enclosure had its 
centre on the site of St. Paul's Cathedral; and while 
on one side Gerald could see the never-ending, jingling, 
jostling traffic of Tremont Street, he was faced on three 
others by compact masses of architecture of a uniform 
luxuriousness infrequent in American cities. Above 
the nearly level surface of the roofs shot a group of 
spires, towers and campaniles, some slender and pointed, 
others square and open, with glimpses of sky and cloud 
visible through their arches ; and when the sun was 
dropping behind the hills in the west, they stood out in 
the blaze with Venetian picturesqueness." pp. 102-3. 



A Voyage of Discovery, a ISTovel, of American So- 
ciety, by Hamilton Aide, 1892, 

— "That same day two of their agreeable acquaint- 
ances of the previous evening escorted them to the 
State House, with its gilded dome and fine eighteenth 
century decorations. They ascended a lofty tower, 
and gained a comprehensive view of the city, the wind- 
ing river, and Charlestown, and beyond it the south 
coast, island sprinkled sea. It Avas a clear, brilliant 
day, though intensely cold. The dark boats on the 
glittering river, the numerous vanes and pinnacles that 
rose above the snow-bound city and caught the sunlight, 
the forest of masts in the harbor and silhouettes of wide- 
armed elms upon the Common, the frozen lake on which 
hundreds were skating and sliding merrily, and over 
all a span of wind-swept sky, almost Florentine in its 
hard, blue depth, startled the English travellers with 
unexpected beauty. 'This is really charming?' cried 



274 BOSTOK COMMON 

Mrs. Trampton, and after snch an admission there was 
nothing more to be said. They visited several book 
stores and the noble public library. At last, when the 
sky was growing the color of a tea-rose, against which 
church tower and steeple uprose in solid purple, they 
recrossed the park, and Grace and Morduant hastened 
to dress for the Country Club dinner." pp. 283-4. 



An American Politician, a ITovel, by F. Marion 
Crawford, 1885. 

"The next day he rose early and ^did' Boston. It 
did not take him long, he said to himself that half of 
it was very jolly, and half of it was too utterly beastly 
for anything. The Common, and the Garden, and 
Commonwealth Avenue, you know, were rather pretty, 
and must have cost a deuce of a lot of money in this 
country ; but as for the State House, and Paul Kevere's 
Church, and the Old South, and the city generally, why, 
it was simply disgusting, all that, you know, and in the 
afternoon we went to see Sybil Brandon, and began 
talking about what he had seen." pp. 161. 

— "The trees on the Common are thick and heavy 
with foliage, the Public Garden is a carpet of bright 
flowers, and on the walls of Beacon Street the great 
creepers have burst into blossom and are stretch- 
ins: lone: shoots over the brown stone and the iron 
balconies. There is a smell of violets and flowers in 
the warm air, and down on the little pond the swan- 
shaped boats are paddling about with their cargoes of 
merry children and calico nursery-maids, while the 
Irish boys look on from the banks and throw pebbles 
when the policemen are not looking, wishing they had 
the spare coin necessary to embark for a ten minute's 
voyage on the mimic sea." pp. 281, 



BOSTON COMMON" 2Y5 

A Child of the Century. By John T. Wheelwright, 
1887. 

— "Sewall his whole life had been spent on 

that part of the earth's surface which is contained in a 
circle with a radius of five miles, and with the tarnished 

gilt dome of the State House as a centre The 

trees on the Common waved their limbs in welcome to 
him, like old friends, when he passed along the mall. 
On Beacon Hill, the once proud eminence, now being 
deserted by the fashionable and invaded by boarding- 
house keepers stands his grandfather's pleasant old 

fashioned house, in which he passed his boyhood 

Over beyond the Common, the 'Coasting,' football, and 
battle ground of his boyhood, was the school house 
where he laid the foundations of that ripe culture for 
which he was pre-eminent even in Boston." pp. 3-4. 

"H was not unnatural, then, that his blood tingled 
through his body when he sniffed the salt breeze flowing 
over the Back Bay as he took his regular afternoon con- 
stitutional between the hours of 4.30 and 5.30 p. m," 
pp. 6. 



Rowena in Boston, a IsTovel, by Maria Louise Pool, 
1892. 

— "Sometimes, when she went out for a bit of butter 
or some rolls, she would walk up to a brighter part of 
the city and stroll across the Common, thinking it was 
a very poor make-believe of the country." pp. 80. 

— "Instead of going to her room Bowena wandered 
across the Common and out towards the Public Gar- 
dens. She was senselessly irritated and despondent. 
Her art was drudgery." pp. 109. 

— "Vanessa must have been thoroughly in earnest in 



276 BOSTO:^' COMMON 

what she had said to him on the Common of her interest 
in that girh" pp. 320-1. 

— "The long June twilight was gone, and a dusk, 
odorous even here in the city, was coming among the 
trees on the Common when Eowena rose to go hack to 
her shahhy little room and to the Yorkshire. This 
latter individual had been trying to beguile his ennui 
by a complete destruction of a pin-cushion which 
George Warner had made and presented to the friend 
who had gone to Boston to learn to paint." pp. 324. 



Wheel of Fire, by Arlo Bates, 1885. 

— "She crossed the Common with throbbing temples 
and a buoyancy of mood which was far too ecstatic to 
be natural, and which might have made one intimately 
acquainted with her antecedents tremble a little from 
fear of the reaction which should follow." pp. 284. 

— "She had no reason for surmising that the time 
had come when he had but to speak to win the consent 
he so fervently desired ; and the pair walked side by 
side across the Common, as far from understanding 
each other as if separated by continents." pp. 296. 

The Pagans, by the same author, 1884. 

— "Going across the Common toward the studio on 
the sunny morning, when the air was brisk and bracing, 
the naked trees clearly and delicately defined against 
the sky, Helen's thoughts went back to her past ; to her 
shy, secluded girlhood, to the years of her married life, 
and to the way in which she had been living since she 
and her husband parted. She reflected with a smile, 
half pity, half contempt, of the proud, reticent girl who 
had pored over books and drawings in the musty, 
deserted library at home, almost wondering if she were 
the same being. She looked from the Joy Street Mall 



BOSTON COMMOI^r 277 

across the hollow which holds the Frog Pond, the most 
charming view on the Common, yet not even the golden 
sjDarkle of the water or the beautiful line of the slope 
beyond could chase from her mind the picture of the 
high, dim old room, lined to the ceiling with book 
shelves, dusty from neglect." pp. 67-8. 

— "They crossed the Common, chatting idly, and 
both conscious that the frankness of their old inter- 
course was* somewhat lacking." pp. 123. 

— "She walked briskly through the bracing morning 
across the Common, her mind full of bright fancies." 
pp. 213. 

— "He went to the round window, for his studio was 
high up in the building, and removed the Japanese 
umbrella which served as its screen. He threw himself 
upon a pile of cushions, regarding darkly the tops of 
the trees in the old Granary burying ground opposite." 
pp. 265. 



Miss Curtis, a Sketch, by Kate Gannett Wells, 1888. 

"Two quaint little figures were walking up Beacon 
Street with that old fashioned air which belongs to 
immature responsibility when tliere is something to be 
done that is of greater importance to the doer than to 
any one else. 'Do you suppose, Olive, that we've got 
to make grateful calls when you are a teacher and I'm 
in college V 

" 'I rather go without things, Owen, than have to 
take some things and have to thank people for other 
things,' was the eager, vexed reply, 'but don't let us 
talk, I'm 'fraid I shall forget. It is just like learning 
your part in a play. First it is a 'How do you do,' and 
'How do the family do,' and 'How do I do,' and then it is 
weather ; and then it is how old you are, and where you 



2Y8 BOSTON COMMOI^r 

go to school ; and next it is general news ; and then it 
is advice ; and last it is good-bye,' and the little face 
looked out of its mass of short brown curls as if it saw 
in every passer-by a stage prompter, who hissed at her 
the opening words of each sentence." pp. 9-10. 



Captain Xelson — a Romance of Colonial Days, by 
Samuel Adams Drake, 1879. 

"The triple crown of hills which dominated the 
peninsula rose above a motley collection of houses 
crowded along the strand or scattered upon the hillsides. 
Those by the shore indicated the commercial character 
of the place ; those on the hills were the homes of the 
more w^ealthy citizens. Seen at a distance, the effect 
was sufficiently picturesque ; the three little mountains 
had already taken a character agreeing with the needs 
of the plantation. On the green crest of the highest 
summit a tall shaft, designed to give timely warning of 
the approach of evening, was the consj)icuous object, 
far and near. A second eminence, topped by a wind 
mill, ascended at the peninsula's extreme seaward limit ; 
a third having its foot also washed by the sea, was 
crowned by a fortress, whose artillery swept the road- 
stead. The beacon, the windmill, and the fortress were 
thus the prominent landmarks of the town, and from 
them the hills of Tri-mountain were long familiarly 
distinguished." pp. 11. 



Penelope's Suitors — ^by Edwin Lassetter Bymer, 
1887. 

1639 — "ISTo. 1.20 I became acquainted with the 
family, and rest well content. Here is much more after 
than at home, for besides that the governor hath divers 
visitors upon ceremony and business daily, his dwelling 



BOSTON COMMON 2Y9 

is placed upon the chief street where is much passing 
to and fro. It is a large house, quite plain without, 
but well-ordered within. Both the governor and madam 
are most gracious to me, and account themselves kins- 
folk, it seemeth with brother Herbert, through his wife. 
Yesterday, Mr. Deane came civilly and bade me forth 
for an outing. We walked upon the Gentry Field, and 
thence by the sea-shore to Mr. Blackstone's garden, 
where he had good prospect of the the sun's setting." 
pp. 14. 



Agnes Surriage, by the same author, 1887. 

"The old 'Bunch of Grapes' tavern in Boston was 
ablaze with light. From the front window it streamed 
across Kings Street in a broad white ribbon and lit up 
with a feeble glare the eastern gable of the Town House. 
Something unusual was astir in the old hostlery. 
Guests were arriving in chairs and chaises, and the 
heavy door swinging open from time to time to admit 
them, showed in vivid relief against the outer blackness 
the wistful faces of a knot of idlers hanging about the 
entrance, straining their ears to catch a stray word from 
the hum of jocund voices within, and sniffing with 
eager noses the savory odors from the kitchen." pp. 21. 



A Great Treason. A Story of the War of Independ- 
ence, by ]\Iary A. M. Hoppus, 1883. 

— "On that same Tuesday evening, Lieutenant Digby 
happened to be crossing the Common with Lord Percy, 
whom he had known in England, and who was always 
very civil to him. Percy was returning to quarters 
from a conference with the Governor, and had just said 
to Fred that he might tell him in strict secrecy that a 
blow would be struck before very long, when they 



280 BOSTON COMMOlvr 

observed a group of men standing under some trees. It 
was a clear evening, with the moon in her last quarter, 
just rising." pp. 113. 



Suburban Sketches, by W. D. Howells, 18Y1. 

"By Horse-car to Boston." '^'Thanks to mansard 
curves and dormer windows of the newer houses, there 
is a singularly picturesque variety among the roofs that 
stretch along the bay, and rise one above another on the 
city's three hills, grouping themselves about the State 
House, and surmounted by its India-rubber dome, but, 
after all, does human weakness crave some legendary 
charm, some grace of uncertain antiquity, in the pict- 
uresqueness it sees ? I own that the future, to which 
we are often referred for the 'stuff that dreams are 
made of,' is more difficult for the fancy than the past, 
that the airy amplitude of its possibilities is somewhat 
chilly, and that we naturally long for the snug quarters 
of old, made warm by many generations of life," pp 108. 



The Wolf at the Door. 1877. 

— "The gray horses went on, and they reached the 
Chestnut Hill Reservoir, rolling over the smooth road- 
way, broken here and there with muddy spots, and there 
were patches of snow, and some of October's brown 
leaves lying beneath the bare trees, heaped up here and 
there or blown across the path. As they turned to 
come back, they saw a red purple haze sinking over the 
town, and presently the gilt dome of the State House 
glittering far away in the midst." pp. 58. 



The Scarlet Letter, by K^athaniel Hawthorne. 
— "Here to witness the scene which we are describ- 
ing, sat Governor Bellingham himself, with four ser- 



BOSTO:^ COMMOi^ 281 

geants about his chair, bearing halberds as a guard of 
honor. He wore a dark feather in his hat, a border of 
embroidery on his cloak, and a black velvet tunic 
beneath; a gentleman advanced in years, with a hard 
experience written in his wrinkles. He was not ill- 
fitted to be the head and representative of a commun- 
ity, which owed its origin and progress, and its present 
state of development not to the impulses of youth, but 
to the stern and tempered energies of manhood, and 
the sombre sagacity of age ; accomplishing so much 
precisely because it imagined and hoped so little. The 
other eminent characters, by whom the chief ruler was 
surrounded, were distinguished by a dignity of mien, 
belonging to a period when the forms of authority were 
felt to possess the sacredness of Divine institution." 

— '^Without further adventure, they reached the 
dwelling of Governor Bellingham, This was a large 
wooden house, built in a fashion of which there are 
specimens still extant in the streets of our older towns ; 
now moss-grown, cruiubling to decay, and melancholy 
at heart with the many joyful or sorrowful occurrences 
remembered or forgotten, that have happened, and 
passed away, within their dusky chambers. Then, 
however, there was the freshness of the passing year on 
its exterior, and the cheerfulness, gleaming forth from 
the sunny windows, of a human habitation, into which 
death had never entered. It had, indeed, a very cheery 
aspect ; the walls being overspread with a kind of stucco, 
in which fragments of broken glass were plentifully 
intermixed; so that, when the sunshine fell aslantwise 
over the front of the edifice it glittered and sparkled as 
if diamonds had been flung against it by the double 
handful. The brilliancy might have befitted Aladdin's 



282 BOSTON COMMO]^ 

palace, rather than the mansion of a grave old Puritan 
ruler." 

— "In the open air their rapture broke into speech. 
The street and the market-place absolutely babbled from 
side to side, with applauses of the minister. His 
hearers could not rest until they had told one another 
of what each knew better than he could tell or hear. 
According to their united testimony, never had man 
spoken in so wise, so high, and so holy a spirit, as he 
that spake this day." 



The Siege of the Seven Suitors, by Meredith ISTichol- 
son, 1910. . .{ 

— "who wore that slipper and dropped it as it seemed 
from the clouds, at my feet there in sedate Beacon 
Street, that most solemn of residential sancturies." 

" 'Mr. Ames,' began Miss Hollister instantly, with 
an assumed severity that her smile belied, 'I cannot 
recall that my niece Hezekiah ever visited in Beacon 
Street ; yet I dare say that if she had done so and a 
young man of your pleasing appearance had passed 
beneath her window, one of her slippers might very 
easily have become detached from Hezekiah's foot and 
fallen with a nice calculation directly in front of you.' " 
pp. 263. 

"Hezekiah on the roof was safe for a time. Miss 
Octavia's gentle rejection of my Beacon Street anecdote 
and her intimation that Hezekiah had been an unfilled 
participant in the comedy of the ghost had been disquiet- 
ing, and in my relief at her abandonment of the search 
I loitered on downstairs with my hostess." 

— " 'And whether that slipper really fell at your feet 
in Beacon Street or even in the less likely precincts of 
Rittenhouse Square, or under the windows of the 



BOSTOJT COMMON 283 

Spanish Embassy in Washington, I believe that you are 
my good knight, and that you will see me safely through 
this singular adventure.' " pp. 274. 



Miss Theodora, A West End Story, by Helen Leah 
Eeed, 1898. 

"The tourist with his day or two at a downtown hotel, 
calls Boston a city of narrow streets and ancient grave- 
yards ; the dweller in one of the newer avenues is enthu- 
siastic about the modern architecture and regular 
streets of the Back Bay region. Yet neither of these 
knows the real Boston, the old West End, with its quaint 
tree-lined streets sloping from the top of Beacon Hill 
toward the river. 

'^jSTear the close of any bright afternoon, walk from 
the State House down the hill, pause halfway, and 
glancing back note the perfect Gothic arch formed by 
the trees that line both sides of Mount Vernon Street. 
Admire those old houses which have taken on the rich, 
deep tones that age so kindly imparts to brick. Then 
look across the river to the sun just setting behind the 
Brookline Hills, — and admit that even in a crowded 
city we may catch glimpses of the picturesque." pp. 1-2. 

—''It's shameful that the Somersets should think so 
little of themselves as to move from Chestnut to Beacon 
Street; and their new house isn't even opposite the 
Public Garden." pp. 16. 

— "How disturbed she had been walking up Beacon 
Street one day, to see workmen tearing down one of the 
most dignified of the old purple windowed houses, once 
the home of intimate friends of hers, to make way for 
an uglier if more ornate structure ! What an intrusion 
she felt the car tracks to be which run through Charles 



284 BOSTOX COMMON 

Street across Beacon Street, continuing through South 
and the West ends of the city ? 

"Miss Theodosia's Boston was not so large but that it 
could be traversed by any healthy person on foot, — " 
pp. 151-2. 



April Hopes, by W. D. Howells, 1888. 

" 'You can sit in the Garden, and wait for the next 



car.' " 



" 'No, I would rather go back to the Art Museum, 
and make a fresh start.' " 

" 'To the Art Museum?' she murmured tenderly." 
" 'Yes. Wouldn't you like to see it again V " 
" 'Again ? I should like to pass my whole life in it.' " 
pp. 210. 

"He walked back to Charles Street by the Garden 
path, keeping abreast of her, and not losing sight of 
her for a moment, except when the bulk of a string 
team watering at the trough beside the pavement inter- 
vened." pp. 216. 



Memories of a Millionaire, by Lucia True Ames, 
1889. 

"Boston, Jan. 6, 26, Louisburg Square. 

Jessie Dear. — I have been sitting for the last half- 
hour in the broad cushioned window-seat of my cozy 
attic room looking far out over the mass of chimney- 
tops to the towers and spires beyond the hills and the 
Public Garden. 

"I love to sit here quietly on Sunday afternoon, and 
when the sunset comes I throw aside my books and 
watch the shifting brilliant colors turning the blue 
Charles into a sheet of glimmering gold and dying with 
rosy hues the snowy slopes of Corey Hill beyond. 



BOSTOTq" COMMON 285 

"Have you been away so long as to have forgotten 
those clear old sights ? And do you recall that on this 
western slope of Beacon Hill from which I w^rite to you 
lived the hermit Blackstone of Shawmut, before 
Winthrop or any Puritan had thought of settling Boston 
town ? I like old places. I like to be on the oldest spot 
in this old, historic town, as you may easily imagine 
remembering all my antiquarian enthusiasm when we 
were at school." pp. 19-20. 



Man Proposes. A N'ovel, 1880. 

— " 'Reallv Mr. Prescott, it is time for us to leave 
town. The summer is coming in earnest, and we can't 
stay longer.' 'June, my dear, is the first month in the 
year in Boston. Just think what glorious resort the 
Common would be at this season if it were only in 
ISTewport.' Here the cheroot was raised to an angle of 
forty-five degrees, bearing east by south tow^ards the 
lady. 'But it isn't in ITewport; and it might as well 
be built over, for all the good it does us. We can't walk 
there.' 

" 'And why not, my dear ?' 

" 'Why do you know the walks are always filled with 
country cousins, and strollers that have nothing to do, 
and people that go holding each others hands; and the 
seats are occupied with queer, staring couples.' There 
w^as a shrug or shiver of disgust. 

" 'Part of the entertainment, my dear, these strange 
folks make the walks a study. And they can't spoil all 
the fresh air, nor use all the green shade, nor monopolize 
the blue sky.' 

" 'N^o, but refined people like privacy. These low 
cads and shop-girls would make the finest park vulgar. 
ISTo lady in society is even seen on the Common, except 



286 BOSTO^T COMMON 

in crossing to St. Paul's on Sunday morning. So mucli 
the worse for them.' " pp. 19-20. 

— "It was not for such a man, Avhen once aroused, to 
content himself with timid monosyllables in the pres- 
ence of his beloved. He had broken awav from the 
office of Prescott & Co., by some resistless impulse, and 
strode out for a walk. As he neared the Common, the 
elms seemed to wave him a welcome, and the long brown 
malls opened invitingly. Cool airs played with his hair 
as he raised his hat under the shade; and the peace of 
the blue heaven came through the open work of leaves." 
pp. 46-7. 



A Country Doctor, by Sarah Orne Jewett, 1884. 

"iSTan looked on with sympathetic eyes, or watched 
the squirrels in the trees of the quiet Granary Burying 
Ground, which seemed to her like a bit of country 
which the noisy city had caught and imprisoned." 
pp. 151. 



A Fountain Sealed, by Anne Douglas Sedgwick, 
1908. 

"Jack's aunt lived in a peaceful house on the hill, and 
the windows of Jack's large flat, nearby, looked over the 
Common, the Gardens, the Charles River, a cheerful 
bird's-eye view of the tranquil city, breathed upon now 
by the first, faint green of spring." pp. 140. 



THE BEACOK 

Pull fourscore years have passed me by ; 
Chair-bound and feeble, at my window, I 
I_.ook out upon the aging world, 
Half sad, half glad, to know the end so nigh. 



BOSTON COMMON 287 

Below me, many housetops hide 

The secrets of a thousand lives inside — 

Protect their joys, loves, griefs, and sins. 

Ah ! I have known all these— and more beside ! 

I've drunk of life in many lands 

Full draughts ! jSTo cup withheld, untasted, stands — 

Save one, from which we all must drink, 

And this, when emptied, drops from lifeless hands. 

Sundown's trailed by a dying rose . . . 
But wind-bent trees a golden cross disclose, 
Spire high ! So, in my dark'ning room, 
x\lone, I wait in peace for night's repose. 

Louise Von Wetter in the New York Times. 



BOSTOK 
Oh, say, 

Ain't Boston gay 
To-day ? 

Ain't the sacred Codfish grinning 
Like a Cheshire cat that's et 
A flock of Giant canaries 
And wants a few more yet ? 
Ain't the Golden Dome of the State 
House 

Got splints bound on it tight 
So's not to bust wide open 
In spasms of delight ? 
Ain't the famous Frog Pond bubbling 
Like Lethe on the lave. 
With all of Boston singing 
"A life on the ocean wave" ? 
Ain't a dog of war at present 
A brindled Boston pujD ? 



288 BOSTO^^ COMMO]^ 

Ain't pork and beans just booming 

And the price still going np ? 

Oh, say, 

Ain't Boston gay 

To-day? 

She's laid her intellect aside 

And counts her brains as nit, 

While, Beacon Street and Common folks 

Let loose and throw a fit. 

Her Mayflower is a hopeless wreck, 

Her Avhirling Hnb is still. 

Tea parties are forgotten now. 

There ain't no Bunker Hill. 

Wow, 

Do you mind that now ? 

And why, oh, why. 

Are they all knocked into pie ? 

My scat, 

Don't you know that ? 

Haven't you heard the ncAvs from Boston, 

How the Red Sox won the game 

That crowns the modern Boston 

And swats her ancient fame ? 

The past is nothing to Boston 

l^ow that her pork and beans 

Has walloped the Broadway lobster 

And swiped Manhattan's jeans. 

Oh, say, 

Ain't Boston gay 

To-day ? 

And iS'ew York ? Well, 

Maybe it ain't hades 

And maybe it is. 

Gee whiz ! ! ! 

W. J. Lampton, in the New Yorh Times. 



